ALEXANDRIA, Va. - He is the guy at the shoulder of the chairmanat NCUA Board meetings and he is the one who speaks for thechairman when he is not available. For six and a half years, Chiefof Staff to the NCUA Chairman Kirk Cuevas has done nearly as muchtalking and handshaking as Chairman Dennis Dollar. He has advisedand counseled the chairman on numerous issues critical to creditunions from field of membership regulations to RegFlex. "Kirkdefined the position of policy advisor to a board member," Dollarstated. He has been an "incredible asset to me and to the agency."His influence within credit union circles is at least equal to hisown, Dollar said. Cuevas also served as a second presence for thechairman at meetings when he did not have the opportunity to meetwith everyone there. Cuevas himself said if he told a credit unionleader something, they should know it was as good as coming fromthe chairman. After observing agency operations for nearly sevenyears, Cuevas explained that each board member has a differentpersonality and the success of their executive assistant depends ontheir ability to figure it out fast. Fortunately for him, Cuevassaid, "Regulatorily and politically, we're very much cut from thesame cloth, which made it easier for me." Cuevas and Dollar go backmore than 20 years when he served as Dollar's page when he was inthe Mississippi House of Representatives. Other than that the twohad never worked together prior to NCUA, but were friends and hadfollowed each other's careers. In addition to a professionalmentor, Dollar even served as Cuevas' best man at his wedding,Cuevas said. Through this relationship and their combined agenda,the two were able to forge many changes at the agency. Cuevas notedthat many people try to deny they have an agenda. "In reality, wecame here with an agenda. I'm not going to apologize for it," hesaid. As a result credit unions are safer and sounder, he said, andbetter positioned. "We left [NCUA] better than we found it," hesaid, echoing his mentor. According to Cuevas, Dollar's hands-offmanagement style allowed him to obtain a number of professionalaccomplishments. "I do think the fact that he empowered me asexecutive assistant and entrusted me allowed me to accomplishthings," he said. Cuevas' finger prints can be found all throughthe field of membership regulations, RegFlex, and incidentalpowers. As "architect and builder" Cuevas said he and Dollar havedefined role of chief of staff likely to be modeled after in thefuture. "He gave me free reign on a lot of things while alwaysrecognizing he was the boss," Cuevas said. In addition, thechairman's chief of staff supervised policy items and served as hisNo.1 confidant and sounding board. "I work with one of the mostimpressive people to work with," Cuevas said. Dollar is a veryprincipled man and "what you see is what you get." "I like that,"he said. "I'm drawn to that, that sense of fairness." While thechairman is easy-going he does hold people accountable but believesin letting people do their jobs, so "If you're doing your job anddoing it well, he's probably easy to get along with." He explainedfurther, "I wouldn't say he's a harsh task master, but he's ademanding task master." For the future, the two are looking atpossibly going into business together, but Cuevas disclosed he hasalso had a number of inquiries from law firms and credit unions."We're big boys and recognize we need to look after the interest ofour families," he said. Cuevas emphasized that obviously his andthe chairman's resumes are strongest in credit union circles rightnow. He said his dream job would be to own and operate a golfdriving range with a grill in the back for Cajun cooking and sitaround and talk politics with the customers. Before coming to NCUA,Cuevas was an attorney with State Farm for more than six years. "Ibelonged to a credit union but short of that, I wasn't a creditunion authority at that point," he admitted. Cuevas recalled thathis first NCUA Board meeting, which lasted about 11 hours, was asort of "trial by fire." Like Dollar, Cuevas too has served halfhis career in the public and half in the private sector. He saidthat he does have political aspirations but not in the near future.He did not rule out returning to the NCUA Board at some point.Cuevas credits his parents' good sense of values and work ethicthey imparted on him for his success. He was the first in hisfamily to complete college. "In a lot of ways I am living theAmerican Dream," he concluded. [email protected]