Dr. Mark Calabria, former Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has been appointed Chief Statistician by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought.
Dr. Calabria takes over for Chief Statistician Karin Orvis in OMB’s Statistical and Science Policy Branch. In the role of Chief Statistician, Dr. Calabria will maintain the integrity of federal statistics and data availability during leadership transitions and organizational changes. The Chief Statistician is also tasked with coordinating with 16 recognized statistical agencies on implementing the responsibilities described in the OMB’s recent Public Trust Rule, while also ensuring they have the autonomy and resources needed to maintain public trust.
The OMB’s Trust Rule aims to promote trust in federally disbursed statistics, and the recognized statistical agencies and units that produce them, by codifying and clarifying the fundamental responsibilities of statistical agencies across the Federal government:
- To produce and issue relevant and timely statistical information
- To conduct credible and accurate statistical activities
- To carry out objective statistical activities
- To protect the trust of respondents and information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses
Dr. Calabria formerly served as FHFA Director where he led the agency’s response to the COVID pandemic, and laid the groundwork for the removal of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government conservatorship. As Director, Calabria also revitalized FHFA as a prudential regulator, establishing the agency’s new Research, Accounting Policy, and Resolution Divisions.
The OMB’s Chief Statistician role has become even more critical following the enactment of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, signed by President Trump in 2019. This landmark bipartisan legislation—including Title 3, the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA)—expanded the responsibilities of Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units (RSAUs) and culminated in OMB’s recent Public Trust Rule. Those agencies include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Bureau of Labor Statistics, among others. As stated in the final rule, “Public trust in federal statistics is essential to their value and use in informing decisions across public and private sectors.”
Prior to leading FHFA in the first Trump Administration, Dr. Calabria served at the White House as Chief Economist to the Vice President. In addition, he worked as a senior aide to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he supervised HUD’s regulation of the mortgage and real estate market. He was most recently a Senior Advisor to the Cato Institute.
In March 2023, Dr. Calabria released his book Shelter From the Storm: How A COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted, published by the Cato Institute, documenting the FHFA’s handling of the housing market without disruption at little to no cost to the taxpayer, and resisting repeated calls for industry bailouts and subsidies, during the nation’s COVID-19 pandemic.
