Deborah Holmes, chief information officer and vice president with HUD's Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), has received the prestigious 2002 Career Achievement in Government award. Holmes has more than 20 years experience in systems development with both HUD and Ginnie Mae.

Ms. Holmes was instrumental in designing and implementing Ginnie Mae's conversion to a paperless system of processing transactions involving pools of government-backed mortgages, called mortgage-backed securities. The system slashed processing time by 80 percent, increased the accuracy of transactions, and reduced processing costs to Ginnie Mae. It addition, it enabled mortgage lenders to sell Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities more quickly, cutting their costs as well. The changes save mortgage lenders more than $125 million in interest every year, with the savings passed on to homebuyers who receive an FHA-insured mortgage loan. Ms. Holmes received the award at the 2nd Annual Women of Color Government and Defense Technology Awards Conference. She was one of 30 senior-level executives whose achievements in the private or public sectors were recognized.

Ginnie Mae is a wholly owned federal corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It plays an important role in America's mortgage lending industry by guaranteeing mortgage-backed securities (pools of mortgages) that are sold by lenders. Ginnie Mae's securities are unique, because they carry the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government - which makes them safe, attractive and popular investments for both individuals and institutions. Funds from the sale of Ginnie Mae securities are returned to the mortgage lending system, increasing the availability of affordable home loans for buyers who receive FHA-insured mortgage loans. Since it was chartered by Congress in 1968, Ginnie Mae has played a leading role in expanding homeownership for low- and moderate-income and first-time homebuyers. To date, Ginnie Mae has helped make more than $1.9 trillion in residential mortgage funds available - about $125 billion annually - and made homeownership a reality for some 26 million households.