Ross Kari joins Freddie Mac (FRE) as chief financial officer (CFO), effective Oct. 12, 2009. Kari will oversee the company’s financial controls, accounting, investor relations, financial planning and reporting, tax, capital oversight, and compliance with various accounting legislation, as well as serve as a member of Freddie’s senior executive leadership team. He will report directly to CEO Charles Haldeman Jr. Kari enjoyed a nearly 20-year-long career at Wells Fargo (WFC), where he served first as senior financial analyst and then as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Most recently he has served as CFO of the Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), a position he held since 2008. From 2002 to 2006, Kari was executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. “I’m delighted to complete Freddie Mac’s senior executive team by adding a CFO with an impressive background and broad experience in the mortgage business and financial services industry,” Haldeman said in a statement. “Ross will be leading a proven group of finance executives who continue to strengthen our financial controls. When I came to Freddie Mac I said that building out our senior executive team was near the top of my agenda, and with a new CFO and COO both now on board, we’ve met that goal.” Kari is an alumnus of the University of Oregon, where he earned a bachelor of science in mathematics and a MBA in finance. Write to Austin Kilgore.