Raines, Franklin D.

January 14, 1949

One of seven children, public official and investment banker Franklin D. Raines grew up in Seattle, Washington. His working-class family had been a recipient of Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or welfare. He received his B.A. degree from Harvard College in 1971 and his J.D. degree from Harvard University Law School in 1976. He also attended Magdalen College at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

From 1977 to 1979 Raines was an associate director for economics and government with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and assistant director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff, handling such issues as welfare reform, food stamps, and social security. He then was a general partner with the international investment banking firm, Lazard Freres & Company from 1979 to 1991.

From 1991 to 1996 Raines was vice chair of the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae, which provides financial assistance for lower-income Americans who are in the market for a home. It is also the world's largest nonbank financial service and the largest financier of home mortgages in the country. Raines then joined President Bill Clinton's cabinet from April 1996 to May 1998, where he was director of the Office of Management and Budget—the first director in a generation to balance the federal budget. He resigned to join the private sector and became chair and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.–based Fannie Mae Corporation on January 1, 1999, becoming the first African American CEO of a major Fortune 500 company.

Raines's memberships have included the board of directors of Pfizer Inc., America Online, Inc., the Boeing Company, and chair of the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He has served also as president of the Board of Overseers of Harvard.

In 2004 Raines resigned his executive office at Fannie Mae following a ruling by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the corporation had been using improper accounting procedures.

See also Politics in the United States

Bibliography

"Fannie Mae CEO, Franklin Raines, Retires." Jet 107, no. 3 (January 17, 2005): 34–35.

Farmer, Paula. "The First African American to Head a Fortune 500 Company, Franklin D. Raines Takes Over Fannie Mae." Available from <http://www.black-collegian.com/issues/1999-08/fdraines.shtml>.

raymond winbush (2001)
Updated by publisher 2005