JOSEPH FIRSCHEIN
4042 Chancery Court, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Home: 202-338-2939 Cell: 703-731-5992 Email: josephfirschein@gmail.com
SUMMARY: Banking and public finance executive with extensive experience at leading public
and private sector firms, including the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, U.S. Treasury
Department, U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), America Online, and Fannie Mae.
 Public Policy: Advise Federal Reserve Governors on community development and
consumer policy issues. At the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and OMB,
worked with senior leaders at financial institutions, community organizations, and
municipalities to design and implement community development finance initiatives.
 Risk Management and Compliance: Developed and implemented underwriting and
compliance guidelines at the Treasury Department and Fannie Mae.
 Business Development: Managed business development teams at two of the leading
national Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) lenders -- the Treasury
Department CDFI Fund and Fannie Mae.
 Management and Strategy: Oversaw the general management and business strategy
functions of a Fannie Mae affordable housing finance division with over $1 billion in
annual revenue. Developed Fannie Mae’s strategy for selling foreclosed single-family
properties to public entities and nonprofits.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD OF GOVERNORS
2008-present
Washington, DC
Deputy Associate Director and Community Affairs Officer
Lead the Federal Reserve Board’s community development team that is responsible for
advising the Federal Reserve Chairman and other Federal Reserve Governors on opportunities
to help low-income communities become more viable economically.
 Serve as a lead policy advisor to the Federal Reserve Chairman and Board of Governors
on community development finance and consumer protection issues, including drafting
speeches, testimony, and Federal Reserve policies.
 Lead the Board’s annual oversight of the Federal Reserve Banks’ community
development function.
 Promote community development finance best practices with senior leaders at financial
institutions, nonprofit organizations, and municipalities.
 Selected to represent the Board at the Trailblazers Leadership Initiative, a System-wide
program for Federal Reserve officers with senior leadership potential.
JOSEPH FIRSCHEIN
FANNIE MAE
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2004-2008
Washington, DC
Director of Real Estate Owned (REO) Disposition Strategy, 8/2008-12/2008
Responsible for developing and executing the company’s strategy for selling foreclosed singlefamily properties to public entities and nonprofits.
 Led a company-wide review process that resulted in a new strategy for selling REO
properties through both retail and alternative disposition channels.
 Directed the team responsible for selling REO properties in bulk to State Housing
Finance Agencies, Public Housing Authorities, municipalities, and nonprofits.
Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice President, Housing and Community Development (9/20078/2008) and to the Senior Vice President, Community Lending (4/2007-9/2007)
Responsible for financial management, operations, and business strategy for a Division with
over $1 billion in annual revenue and a debt book of business of over $140 billion.
 Developed and executed a successful re-organization of the Division’s regional field
office staff -- maintaining a smaller but higher capacity field presence with greater
integration with the business units. The re-organization reduced headcount from 164
to 83 positions and generated annual savings of approximately $12.6 million.
 Significantly improved the Division’s annual performance management process,
resulting in better alignment between segment, Divisional, and corporate goals.
 Selected as a member of the CEO Fellows Program, a company-wide management
recognition program for the top 20 managers with senior management potential.
Director, Financial Intermediary Lending, 10/2004-4/2007
Managed the business development team for an HCD business unit with over $150 million in
annual lending volume and a debt book of business of over $170 million.
 Managed the company’s financing of community development banks, nonprofit
lenders, public entities, and affordable housing developers.
 Developed and successfully executed a business strategy to move from a retail model to
a wholesale model focused on larger, more standardized transactions. The strategy
resulted in a headcount reduction from 10 to 4 business developers while increasing
annual volume and profitability of transactions.
 Coordinated with credit risk management to develop and get senior management
approval of new lending policies and procedures and underwriting guidelines for the
intermediary lending business.
JOSEPH FIRSCHEIN
AMERICA ONLINE
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2000-2004
Dulles, VA
Senior Product Manager/Senior Technical Project Manager
Developed and implemented new product requirements for AOL software development
projects and managed the business process reengineering team that redesigned the review and
approval process for prioritizing business technology requests.
 Managed development of business requirements for a new broadband product that
resulted in over one million new customer registrations.
 Received Division-wide recognition for excellence in project management for
successfully leading software development and marketing project teams in the on-time
and on-budget delivery of reporting project requirements.
U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, CDFI FUND
1997-2000
Washington, DC
Program Manager/Financial and Program Advisor
Managed lending to community development financial institutions at the Community
Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund -- the leading public sector debt and equity
investment fund for community development banks and loan funds.
 Managed a national underwriting team that analyzed business plans and credit quality
of financing companies and prepared recommendations for Fund senior management.
 Developed and implemented compliance guidelines and review criteria to ensure
consistent treatment of funding applicants and transparency of the review criteria for
applicants.
U.S. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB)
1992-1997
Washington, DC
Program Examiner, Housing Branch
Analyzed over $6 billion in annual housing investment proposals and presented budget and
policy recommendations to OMB and White House senior policy officials. Supervised a team
of analysts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide financial and
policy analysis in support of the President’s annual budget request to Congress.
 Received Division-wide excellence award for cross-cutting work on budget and policy
recommendations on community development and homeless assistance programs in
multiple Cabinet agencies.
 Led successful OMB effort to analyze and recommend in the President’s budget a set of
tax incentives to encourage investment in distressed urban and rural communities.
JOSEPH FIRSCHEIN
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EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MBA in Finance and Marketing
2004
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, GOLDMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
Masters in Public Policy
1992
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
B.A. in Psychology, with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa
Studied abroad at Stanford-in-Oxford program, Oxford, England
1988
1986
NONPROFIT BOARD AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER, EDUCATED CONSUMER PROJECT
2006-2008
Successfully developed a new nonprofit organization that provides financial literacy education
to Washington, D.C. high school students living in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
The organization provides after school programs in DC high schools with volunteer teachers
from D.C. undergraduate business schools.
BOARD MEMBER AND TREASURER, YACHAD
2006-present
Serve on the board and executive committee of a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that brings
together volunteers from synagogues, churches, and other nonprofit organizations to rebuild
and revitalize housing and community facilities in low-income neighborhoods.
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
2009-present
Teach courses in community development finance, banking, and public policy at both George
Washington University’s Masters Program in Public Policy and Public Administration and
Georgetown University’s Masters Program in Real Estate.