Federal National Mortgage Association

In 1996, she became chairman of the Aspen Institute think tank and served on boards including Nordstrom, the Rand Corp. and the Federal National Mortgage Association.

The company, formally known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, appeared to be at a crossroads.

Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, is a government-sponsored enterprise and publicly traded company that buys loans from financial institutions.

Or so one supposes, given the history of efforts to overhaul the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, a.k.a.

Case in point: Friday was the 11th anniversary of what was supposed to be a temporary federal takeover of the troubled mortgage-guarantee entities Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.