Morgan Stanley Treasurer Celeste Mellet Brown to Leave for Fannie Mae, Sources Say--Update

By Liz Hoffman 

Morgan Stanley Treasurer Celeste Mellet Brown is leaving after 17 years at the firm to become deputy chief financial officer at Fannie Mae, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ms. Brown, who will be taking the new job in June, will succeeded by John Ryan, a finance executive who has worked over the years in Morgan Stanley's trading division and its private bank, the people said.

One of the more senior women at Morgan Stanley, Ms. Brown began her career at the Wall Street firm in equity research, covering hotels and casinos. She became head of investor relations after the financial crisis, a role she held until being named treasurer in 2014.

Ms. Brown joins Fannie Mae amid a debate over the fate of the mortgage giant and its cousin, Freddie Mac, which own or insure trillions of dollars worth of home loans. Fannie's upper ranks are heavy on Wall Street alumni: CEO Tim Mayopoulos is a former Bank of America general counsel; and CFO David Benson is an ex-Merrill Lynch trader.

Mr. Ryan joined Morgan Stanley in 2004 in the securities division, where he worked in fixed-income financing, and joined the corporate finance group as assistant treasurer in 2011.

More recently, he has had senior roles with Morgan Stanley's two banking subsidiaries, through which the firm since the financial crisis has been trying to gather deposits and make loans.

The treasurer job reports to Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Pruzan.

Write to Liz Hoffman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 20, 2017 14:19 ET (18:19 GMT)

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