WASHINGTON -- Eugene McQuade, president of mortgage finance company Freddie Mac, will leave the company when his contract ends in September, the company announced Tuesday.

It had been assumed that McQuade would replace current Chief Executive Richard Syron this summer at the Northern Virginia-based company. In a statement, McQuade said he wanted to return to his family roots in New England.

The company also announced Ronald F. Poe, the longest-serving member of Freddie Mac's board of directors, will retire and Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, has been nominated to replace him.

"As had long been anticipated, the Board extended an offer to Gene to become chief executive," Shaun O'Malley, Freddie Mac's lead director, said in a statement. "While we are disappointed in his decision to decline that offer and move on, we respect his decision."

In a statement, McQuade said that he "would like to return to my roots in guiding a more traditional financial institution, as well as to my home and family in New England."

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McQuade, 58, joined Freddie Mac in September 2004 after leaving his post as president of Bank of America Corp.

McQuade's current contract expires Sept. 1.

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