Melvin Luther Watt, known as Mel Watt, is an American politician and lawyer born on August 26, 1945, in Steele Creek, North Carolina, into poverty in a tin-roofed shack without running water or electricity. The son of Graham Edward Watt and Evelyn Lucille Mauney, he grew up in Charlotte, attending segregated public schools in Mecklenburg County during the 1950s and 1960s. Watt excelled academically, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967 with a B.S. in Business Administration, followed by a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1970, where he was a published member of the Yale Law Journal. Returning to Charlotte, he practiced law for over two decades, specializing in minority business and economic development, worked with Julius Chambers and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund early in his career, and partnered in small businesses. He managed campaigns for Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, including his 1990 U.S. Senate bid against Jesse Helms, and served one term in the North Carolina Senate (1985-1987). Watt represented North Carolina's 12th congressional district as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2014, serving eleven terms and becoming a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, advocating for civil liberties and influencing banking-government relations in Charlotte's banking hub. In 2013, President Barack Obama nominated him as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), confirmed in 2014, where he served as a key figure overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during their conservatorship until 2019. His tenure drew controversy, including a 2018 FHFA Inspector General report alleging he abused his authority and attempted to coerce a romantic relationship with a subordinate, leading to a sexual harassment lawsuit settlement; Watt denied the claims. He received honorary degrees from Johnson C. Smith University and North Carolina A&T State University. Married to Eulada Paysour, they have two sons.