What does it take to lead when systems fail? Timothy Mayopoulos has spent his career answering that question.

In episode three of Earn The Right, Apoorv Agarwal speaks with one of the most trusted crisis leaders in American finance. Tim served as CEO of Fannie Mae and later stepped in as the FDIC-appointed CEO of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank during its 2023 collapse. He is also a lawyer who built his early career inside some of Wall Street’s most demanding legal environments.

This is a conversation about leadership under pressure: decision-making at velocity, empathy in moments of fear and how to find purpose when the world shifts overnight.

Before leading large financial turnarounds, Tim built his foundation as a litigator at Davis Polk. He later became General Counsel across several global financial institutions, including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. His legal career shaped the analytical discipline and empathy he became known for.

Tim went on to serve as President and CEO of Fannie Mae, where the company returned 167 billion dollars in dividends to the U.S. Treasury. After that, he led Blend Labs to a market-leading position in mortgage and consumer banking technology.

Today, Tim sits on the boards of Blend Labs, LendingClub and SAIC. He also advises several VC-backed fintech companies, including Bilt Technologies, Valon and Roam Homes. In addition, he serves on the FDIC Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee.

• Crisis leadership: How to step into uncertainty, take charge and guide teams through fear.

• Turning Risk Into Opportunity: Why running toward a crisis can accelerate your career and expand your leadership capacity.

• Insights from the SVB & Fannie Mae Frontlines: What actually causes institutions to fail and why liquidity, not business model, is often the real culprit.

• Decision-Making Velocity: Why great leaders separate “quality of inputs” from “quality of outcomes.”

• Housing & The American Dream: Why homeownership is still central to wealth-building and what must change for the next generation.

• Leadership at Scale: How leading at Fannie Mae differs from leading at a startup and why small companies demand faster judgment.

• AI, Work & The Future: Why AI is the “electricity of the century” and what it means for the next generation of lawyers, bankers and knowledge workers.

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