Background and career
William John Pulte (born May 28, 1988) is an American businessman who has served as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since 2025. Pulte served as the acting director of national intelligence from June to August 2026. Pulte is the grandson of William J. Pulte, founder of PulteGroup, a residential home construction company. He studied broadcast journalism at Northwestern University. Pulte founded Pulte Capital in 2011, a private equity firm, and founded The Blight Authority, a nonprofit that clears empty homes, in 2015. Amid a leadership dispute, Pulte was named to PulteGroup's board in 2016, serving for a four-year term; he was not retained over a dispute between him and the board. In 2019, Pulte began using Twitter as a platform for philanthropic efforts. In January 2025, President-elect Donald Trump named Pulte as his nominee for director of the FHFA. He was confirmed by the Senate in March. He marked his tenure by appointing himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Beginning in April, Pulte began accusing Trump foes of mortgage fraud, including Letitia James, the attorney general of New York; California senator Adam Schiff; Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook; and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. The accusations against Cook, which she denied, led to Trump attempting to remove her and a lawsuit. In June 2026, Trump named Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence to succeed Tulsi Gabbard. His appointment elicited concern from some senators, who noted Pulte's loyalty to Trump and his lack of experience in national intelligence. As the acting director of national intelligence, Pulte claimed that he had fired approximately thirty percent of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's workforce. He left the position in August.
William John Pulte was born on May 28, 1988, at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was the first son of Noreen and Mark Pulte; Mark later married Julie. Pulte's grandfather was William J. Pulte, the founder of PulteGroup, a residential home construction company. In high school, Pulte worked for a construction company. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, where he was the president of his university's chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, in 2010. He started an aerial photography business during his time at the university. At Northwestern University, Pulte met his wife, a chemical engineer.
After graduating from Northwestern University, Pulte interned for Huron Capital Partners and later worked for Penske Capital Partners. He founded investment firm, Pulte Capital, in 2011. The company had two hundred employees and US$30 million in revenue by 2014. That year, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
In March 2016, William J. Pulte began a campaign to remove PulteGroup's chief executive, Richard Dugas Jr. Dugas announced that he would resign the following month amid pressure from Pulte, his grandson, and Jim Grosfeld. The younger Pulte was appointed to the board in September, becoming one of the youngest board members of a Fortune 500 company. Following the elder Pulte's death in 2018, he was the only descendant to receive an inheritance, according to a lawsuit. Pulte remained on the board until 2020. According to The New York Times, Pulte was ousted after many of PulteGroup's board members were displeased by Pulte's acquisition of Pulte-related domain names and his use of the @pulte Twitter handle, believing that he no longer needed to remain with the company after the death of his grandfather. During his tenure, he successfully blocked chief executive Ryan Marshall's proposal to promote Brandon Jones, the Michigan division president, to chief operating officer. Pulte sued Jones in December 2022, claiming that he had been subject to harassment on Twitter.
By 2013, Pulte had founded the Detroit Blight Authority, a nonprofit that clears empty homes and cleans up trash, leaving empty lots. After Mike Duggan was inaugurated as the mayor of Detroit in January 2014, he requested that Pulte halt his efforts. Pulte since founded The Blight Authority, a nonprofit operating in Pontiac, Michigan, and—at the behest of Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey—St. Louis. In November 2018, Pontiac mayor Deirdre Waterman stated that her city was set to be blight-free by the following year. In 2019, Pulte began using Twitter as a platform for philanthropic efforts. According to Pulte, he was inspired during a summer vacation by Andrew Yang's pledge to give US$1,000 per month. He has referred to himself as the "inventor of Twitter philanthropy." Pulte's posts often involve giveaways in which recipients must follow him, as well as promotional posts for GoFundMe campaigns. By August, he had established a team of ten people to work through charity requests. Pulte brought attention to GoFundMe campaigns established for victims of the Oxford High School shooting and the Uvalde school shooting. By December 2022, he had garnered 3.2 million followers.
In July 2019, President Donald Trump praised Pulte for promising to give two cars to two veterans if Trump retweeted the post. Pulte told The Detroit News in 2019 that he had met Trump several times and that Trump was familiar with the Blight Authority. Pulte and his wife contributed $500,000 to a pro-Trump PAC through an LLC he controlled in 2021. In 2024, Pulte contributed "heavily" to Republican causes, including donating to the Republican National Committee and Trump's presidential campaign.
