The government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its chief operating officer, Bruce Witherell abruptly left the firm Wednesday. “On February 9, 2011, Bruce M. Witherell resigned from his position and responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer of Freddie Mac (formally known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) for personal reasons, effective immediately,” reads the SEC statement. “Mr. Witherell will not receive any termination benefits.” His notice comes two days before a highly-anticipated white paper from the U.S. Treasury on recommended reform to the GSEs. Witherell was named chief operating officer of Freddie Mac in September 2009, where he oversees integration across the company’s core business lines. These include the Single-Family Credit Guarantee, Single-Family Portfolio Management, Multifamily and Investments & Capital Markets lines. Witherell reported directly to Chief Executive Officer, Charles E. “Ed” Haldeman, Jr. Before joining Freddie, Witherell was managing director and global co-head of the residential mortgage business at Morgan Stanley where he was responsible for the residential mortgage origination and servicing platforms, mortgage operations in the United States, England, Italy, Japan and Russia. From 2003 to 2006, Witherell was chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers and chief executive officer of Aurora Loan Services. Write to Jacob Gaffney. Follow him on Twitter @JacobGaffney.