Freddie Mac, a $32.6 billion government sponsored mortgage finance company based in McLean, Va., hired Timothy Bitsberger as treasurer and senior vice president for funding and investor relations. He succeeds Jerome Lienhard, who left to join MBNA Corp. Bitsberger, 46, most recently was assistant secretary for financial markets at the U.S. Treasury and earlier was deputy assistant secretary for federal finance. Bitsberger spent more than 15 years on Wall Street, where his last position was senior vice president of investments at Salomon Smith Barney.

Verizon Communications Inc., the $71.2 billion telecom company based in New York City, appointed its treasurer, Thomas Bartlett, as controller and senior vice president and said Cathie Webster will succeed Bartlett as treasurer and senior vice president. Bartlett, 47, replaces Dave Benson, who is retiring. Bartlett joined the company as president of a subsidiary, Global Solutions Inc., in 2000, when Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. combined to form Verizon. Earlier, he was CEO and president of Bell Atlantic's international wireless operation and CEO of Grupo Iusacell, a Mexican telecom. Webster, 53, most recently was Verizon's senior vice president of investor relations. Earlier, she was vice president of finance for its network services and wholesale markets operations.

Fannie Mae, the $53.7 billion government-sponsored mortgage finance company, hired Robert Blakely as its new CFO. Blakely, 63, has been CFO and executive vice president of MCI Inc. since 2003. He will join Fannie once Verizon Communications Inc. completes its acquisition of MCI, which is expected to occur by early 2006. Blakely played a key role in MCI's restructuring after the accounting scandal that occurred while it was called WorldCom Inc. Blakely will have another set of problems to face at Fannie. His predecessor, Timothy Howard, resigned in late 2004 after the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that Fannie improperly accounted for derivatives. Blakely has worked in finance and accounting for more than 30 years, including stints as CFO at Tenneco Inc. and Lyondell Chemical Co. Rob Levin, who served as Fannie's interim CFO, was named chief business officer, a new position.