From January 2001 until January 2003, Montgomery served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Advance, and from January 2003 to April 2005, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary. While serving as Director of Presidential Advance, Montgomery was traveling with President George W. Bush on September 11, 2001 and with him at the Pentagon on September 12 and September 14 when President Bush was at Ground Zero. Montgomery and other White House staff were later awarded "September 11 Presidential Distinguished Service" recognition. While serving in the White House, Montgomery contributed to the policy process on a wide range of issues including the administration's efforts to boost homeownership, increase access to affordable housing, and to reform both the
Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the
government sponsored enterprises. Montgomery was the 2008 recipient of the Robert J. Corletta Award for Achievement in Affordable Housing. The Corletta Award, presented annually by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Neighborhood Development Collaborative (NDC), pays tribute to individuals who have shown extraordinary creativity and dedication to the cause of affordable housing. Montgomery was nominated in 2017 to again serve as Assistant Secretary for Housing - Federal Housing Commissioner and confirmed by the Senate in May 2018. He concurrently served in that role and as Acting HUD Deputy Secretary beginning in January 2019.
Acting Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Steve Preston, the fourteenth
United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, left office on January 20, 2009, with the inauguration of
Barack Obama as the 44th
President of the United States. Montgomery assumed the position of acting secretary until Obama appointee
Shaun Donovan was confirmed by the
United States Senate on January 22. Donovan was sworn in on January 26.
Deputy Secretary, HUD With the departure of
Pam Patenaude in January 2019, Montgomery served as the acting
United States Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In October 2019, Montgomery was nominated to become the next Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He was confirmed to the position on May 12, 2020. As Deputy Secretary, Montgomery oversaw both the FHA and Ginnie Mae while also managing the day-to-day operations of the agency including Disaster Recovery, Field Policy & Management, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the Office of the Chief Information Officer, and the Office of Administration. Montgomery also advised and assisted the Secretary in leading the Department's nearly 8,000 employees and $53 billion annual budget. Montgomery oversaw more than $55 billion in Disaster Recovery funding targeted at 17 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Montgomery led the agency's COVID-19 response which included a myriad of process and policy modifications and extensive coordination with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Housing Finance Agency to assist FHA borrowers impacted by the coronavirus. Montgomery also helped develop solutions for Public Housing Authorities and subsidized housing property owners dealing with impacted tenants as well as state/local governments and tribal nations as they assisted vulnerable constituencies including homeless populations. ==References==