William John Pulte (born May 28, 1988) is an American businessman who has served as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since 2025. Pulte served as the acting director of national intelligence from June to August 2026.
Pulte is the grandson of William J. Pulte, founder of PulteGroup, a residential home construction company. He studied broadcast journalism at Northwestern University. Pulte founded Pulte Capital in 2011, a private equity firm, and founded The Blight Authority, a nonprofit that clears empty homes, in 2015. Amid a leadership dispute, Pulte was named to PulteGroup's board in 2016, serving for a four-year term; he was not retained over a dispute between him and the board. In 2019, Pulte began using Twitter as a platform for philanthropic efforts.
In January 2025, President-elect Donald Trump named Pulte as his nominee for director of the FHFA. He was confirmed by the Senate in March. He marked his tenure by appointing himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Beginning in April, Pulte began accusing Trump foes of mortgage fraud, including Letitia James, the attorney general of New York; California senator Adam Schiff; Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook; and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. The accusations against Cook, which she denied, led to Trump attempting to remove her and a lawsuit.
In June 2026, Trump named Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence to succeed Tulsi Gabbard. His appointment elicited concern from some senators, who noted Pulte's loyalty to Trump and his lack of experience in national intelligence. As criticism mounted, Trump announced Pulte would not be put forth as a permanent candidate for the intelligence position.
Pulte claimed that during his two months as acting director, he had fired approximately thirty percent of the workforce within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Early life and education (1988–2010) William John Pulte was born on May 28, 1988, at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was the first son of Noreen and Mark Pulte; Mark later married Julie. Pulte's grandfather was William J. Pulte, the founder of PulteGroup, a residential home construction company. In high school, Pulte worked for a construction company. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, where he was the president of his university's chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, in 2010. He started an aerial photography business during his time at the university. At Northwestern University, Pulte met his wife, a chemical engineer.
Career Private equity (2010–2016) After graduating from Northwestern University, Pulte interned for Huron Capital Partners and later worked for Penske Capital Partners. He founded investment firm, Pulte Capital, in 2011. The company had two hundred employees and million in revenue by 2014. That year, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
PulteGroup (2016–2020) In March 2016, William J. Pulte began a campaign to remove PulteGroup's chief executive, Richard Dugas Jr. Dugas announced that he would resign the following month amid pressure from Pulte, his grandson, and Jim Grosfeld. The younger Pulte was appointed to the board in September, becoming one of the youngest board members of a Fortune 500 company. Following the elder Pulte's death in 2018, he was the only descendant to receive an inheritance, according to a lawsuit. Pulte remained on the board until 2020. According to The New York Times, Pulte was ousted after many of PulteGroup's board members were displeased by Pulte's acquisition of Pulte-related domain names and his use of the @pulte Twitter handle, believing that he no longer needed to remain with the company after the death of his grandfather. During his tenure, he successfully blocked chief executive Ryan Marshall's proposal to promote Brandon Jones, the Michigan division president, to chief operating officer. Pulte sued Jones in December 2022, claiming that he had been subject to harassment on Twitter.
Philanthropy and nonprofit work (2013–2025) By 2013, Pulte had founded the Detroit Blight Authority, a nonprofit that clears empty homes and cleans up trash, leaving empty lots. After Mike Duggan was inaugurated as the mayor of Detroit in January 2014, he requested that Pulte halt his efforts. Pulte since founded The Blight Authority, a nonprofit operating in Pontiac, Michigan, and—at the behest of Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey—St. Louis. In November 2018, Pontiac mayor Deirdre Waterman stated that her city was set to be blight-free by the following year.
In 2019, Pulte began using Twitter as a platform for philanthropic efforts. According to Pulte, he was inspired during a summer vacation by Andrew Yang's pledge to give per month. He has referred to himself as the "inventor of Twitter philanthropy." Pulte's posts often involve giveaways in which recipients must follow him, as well as promotional posts for GoFundMe campaigns. By August, he had established a team of ten people to work through charity requests. Pulte brought attention to GoFundMe campaigns established for victims of the Oxford High School shooting and the Uvalde school shooting. By December 2022, he had garnered 3.2 million followers.
Political activities
In July 2019, President Donald Trump praised Pulte for promising to give two cars to two veterans if Trump retweeted the post. Pulte told The Detroit News in 2019 that he had met Trump several times and that Trump was familiar with the Blight Authority. Pulte and his wife contributed $500,000 to a pro-Trump PAC through an LLC he controlled in 2021. In 2024, Pulte contributed "heavily" to Republican causes, including donating to the Republican National Committee and Trump's presidential campaign.
Assets Pulte estimated his net worth to be million in an interview with the Detroit Free Press in December 2021. He disclosed at least million in assets to the Office of Government Ethics in February 2025, including a million stake in Beast Industries, the conglomerate company for the YouTuber MrBeast, and holdings in GameStop and MARA Holdings, companies that became meme stocks. Pulte stated that he would recuse himself from matters involving companies he was financially involved with, as opposed to divesting his assets.
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (2025–present) Nomination and confirmation According to The Wall Street Journal, Pulte sought to become President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to serve as the secretary of housing and urban development; the position later went to Scott Turner. On January 16, 2025, one day after his inauguration, Trump named Pulte as his nominee for director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Pulte appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on February 20, in which he advocated for lowering housing costs and constructing more homes. The committee voted to advance his nomination in a 15–9 vote on March 6. Pulte was confirmed by the Senate in a 56–43 vote on March 13. Every Republican senator and Democratic senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, and Ruben Gallego of Arizona voted to confirm him; Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth did not vote.
Initial tenure Pulte was sworn in as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency on March 14. He marked his tenure by assuming control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, removing eight members and six members from the boards of each, respectively. Pulte appointed himself the chairman of both boards and appointed three other members. In a departure from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's traditional communications strategy, Pulte prolifically used X to document his work at the agency and solicit advice. Pulte indicated that he had rescinded several policies from the Biden administration in a post on X, terminating special‑purpose credit programs and ending the Federal Housing Finance Agency's enforcement of unfair and deceptive acts or practices. He ended a strategy at the Federal Housing Finance Agency that required real-estate owned foreclosed properties to be repaired before they could be sold on the market.
In March 2025, Pulte removed several executives at the agency, at Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, including Freddie Mac's chief executive officer and the Federal Housing Finance Agency's chief operating officer. Pulte's comments citing empty offices at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as evidence that employees were not returning to work elicited concerns that he would institute mass layoffs. At the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte placed thirty-five unionized workers on administrative leave; according to the National Treasury Employees Union, they were not given advance notice. His job cuts targeted a department that oversaw fair housing rules for the Federal Home Loan Bank system. Pulte's control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac occurred as several officials within the Trump administration suggested that the companies could be privatized. Pulte and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent argued publicly that privatization could negatively harm mortgage rates.
In April 2025, several Democratic senators questioned the legality of the board firings at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as Pulte's decision-making, in a letter sent to Pulte. In a separate letter, a consortium of Republican senators conversely encouraged Pulte to continue his work. That month, he issued several directives reversing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that were established in the Biden administration. Pulte claimed to have fired twenty-five percent of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's workforce and alleged that over one hundred employees at Fannie Mae were complicit in "unethical conduct". In a post on X, he stated that the agency would intensify its use of the Suspended Counterparties Program to lessen apparent fraud. In response to Pulte's board dismissals and his firings at Fannie Mae, Democrats on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs requested an investigation from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general.
In June 2025, Pulte directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow cryptocurrency to be declared as an asset on mortgage applications. That month, he ordered a "full-scale review" of credit bureaus. In July, he allowed mortgage lenders to use VantageScore models in originating loans from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The following month, National Mortgage News reported that Pulte had decreased the number of Federal Home Loan Bank Board seats. In November, Trump and Pulte publicly suggested that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could offer fifty-year mortgages, which would have lower monthly principals and interest at the expense of an extended amortization and slower equity. The proposal was criticized by some housing experts as ineffective at resolving the housing affordability crisis. According to Politico, Pulte's suggestion reportedly infuriated some officials in the Trump administration. He signaled that fifty-year mortgages would not proceed in January 2026.