Name: Duncan, Doug
Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Fannie Mae
Texas A&M Class: 1989
Induction: 2015
Doug Duncan grew up in Fergus Falls, Minnesota on a dairy farm and graduated from high school in 1971. Doug went to Fergus Falls Community College where he earned an Associate’s of Arts degree in 1973. Upon completing his Associate’s Degree, Doug enlisted in the US Navy and was an air traffic controller during 1973-1978. He spent time at the Great Lakes Naval Station for boot camp, at the Glynco Air Base in Brunswick, Georgia for air traffic control training, and subsequently as a controller at Brunswick National Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, and also aboard the USS Lexington CV-16 in Pensacola, Florida. He mustered out in March of 1978.
After his time in the military, Doug furthered his education by attending North Dakota State University and obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in 1980 and his Master’s Degree in 1982, both in Agricultural Economics. Next, Doug attended Texas A&M University and earned a PhD in Agricultural Economics in 1989. During his time at A&M, Doug was president of the Ag Econ graduate student club, an organizer and participant in faculty/grad student Brown Bag Debates and, the secret awarder of the monthly Ridiculous Mus Award.
Doug went to work as an Economist for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) following his graduation from A&M. He worked there during January of 1989-May of 1992, studying and preparing reports on rural credit conditions in the Financial Institutions Group. After leaving the USDA, Doug was accepted into the Brookings Institution Legis Fellows program and served on the staff of the served US House of Representatives Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs. In September of 1992, he became an Economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association where he started as a stand-alone policy analyst and was promoted several times before becoming the head of the Research Division with 11 staff members in November of 1998. In November of 2000, he was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Economist where he supervised the Research, Education, and Technology Standards Departments with 50 staff. He managed the development of Mortgage Industry Professional Certifications, produced economic forecasts for the mortgage finance industry, and led the establishment of industry data standards.
Doug left Mortgage Bankers Association in April 2008 and went to work for Fannie Mae where he is currently employed. He is the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President and manages the Economic and Strategic Research Department with a complement of 35 staff. His responsibilities include oversight of corporate strategy development, internal client consulting, industry surveys and analytics, and economic forecasting. He has regular interaction with the CEO and Executive Team, Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Board along with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the US Treasury, Federal Reserve Board, and other federal agencies. He is a corporate spokesperson and responsible for internal consulting to the company’s individual business units and press relations. His favorite part about what he currently does is getting to use and apply economic tools and concepts to business practices within companies to improve economic efficiency with benefits to the economy and also, through public speaking and media relations, getting to improve the information available to businesses, households, and policymakers.
In his time after college, Doug has been elected to many different positions and honors including: the Board of National Association of Business Economics from 2008-2010, the Fergus Falls High School 544 Foundation Honor Roll, and to the Conference of Business Economists in 2006, a title he currently holds. He has been named by Business Week Magazine as a Top 50 Most Influential Person in Real Estate and also by Inman News as a Top 100 Most Influential Person in Real Estate. Doug has served on the Board of Directors of Strategies to Elevate People from 1990-2010, serving as Chairman from 1998-2006. He was on the Executive Committee for the International Union of Housing Finance from 2001-2010 and was a member of the Housing Statistics Users Group where he also served as president.
Doug and his wife of four years, Brandie, live in Cape Coral, Florida with her three daughters, CJ, Ashleigh and Mackenzie. Doug’s sons, Jeremy and Alexander, are both married and he has four grandchildren.
