Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr, who oversees the department's work on credit unions, banks and other financial institutions, plans to leave office by the end of the year to return to academia.
Barr, whose formal title is Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions, was a key architect of the financial overhaul legislation passed by Congress earlier this year. He was also one of the Obama administration's main point people during negotiations with lawmakers.
Officials of CUNA, NAFCU and NASCUS met frequently with him during the shaping of the legislation. They described Barr as being willing to listen to arguments that were counter to those of the Obama administration but noted that he generally defended the administration's position vigorously.
Barr, who also held a senior position in the department during the Clinton administration, will be returning to his post as a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
The administration hasn't announced his departure, which was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.
The paper also reported that National Economic Council Deputy Director Diana Farrell is also planning to leave before the end of the year.
These are on top of other previously announced departures from President Obama's economic team, including Farrell's boss, Council Director Lawrence Summers, who is scheduled to return to his professorship at Harvard University by the end of the year. Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Christina Romer departed earlier this year to return to her teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley.
