The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is searching for newmembers to serve on its Credit Union Advisory Council.

Other advisory boards for which the CFPB is seeking membersinclude the Community Bank Advisory Council and the ConsumerAdvisory Board.

“The members of our advisory board and councils are tremendousassets for the Bureau,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordrayin a Wednesday statement. “I am grateful for the service of ourcurrent members, and look forward to working with our futuremembers.”

The Credit Union Advisory Council first met in Washington in October 2012 and meetsquarterly. According to the CFPB's website, the 15-member councilincludes:

• Chairperson Carla Decker, $46 million District of Columbia EmployeesFederal Credit Union, Washington, D.C.
• Vice Chairperson Rose Bartolomucci, $117 million Towpath Credit Union, Fairlawn,Ohio
• Bernard Balsis, $20 million IEG Federal Credit Union, Hilo,Hawaii
• Gary Bell, $102 million Cooperative Center Federal CreditUnion, Berkeley, Calif.
• John Buckley, $122 million Gerber Federal Credit Union,Fremont, Mich.
• Ron Ehrenreich, $19 million Syracuse Cooperative Federal CreditUnion, Syracuse, N.Y.
• Kevin Foster-Keddie, $1.7 billion Washington State EmployeesCredit Union, Olympia, Wash.
• Helen Godfrey-Smith, $88 million, Shreveport Federal CreditUnion, Shreveport, La.
• Mitchell Klein, $4 billion Police & Fire Federal CreditUnion, Philadelphia;
• Lily Lo, $11.3 million Northeast Community Federal CreditUnion, San Francisco
• Maria Martinez, $114 million Border Federal Credit Union, DelRio, Texas
• MarcusSchaefer, $1.6 billion Truliant Federal Credit Union,Winston-Salem, N.C.
• Camille Shillenn, $40 million Unified People's Federal CreditUnion in Cheyenne, Wyo.
• Gregg Stockdale, $37 million, 1st Valley Credit Union, SanBernardino, Calif.
• David Wright, $43 million Services Center Federal Credit Union,Yankton, S.D.

A September 2013 report from the Bipartisan Policy Center criticized the CFPB over a lack oftransparency and specifically called out the Credit Union AdvisoryCouncil for a closed-door June 5 meeting. Members of the grouptold Credit Union Times they were prohibited bythe CFPB from speaking to the press about the meeting.

“The CBAC and CUAC were created to ensure that the Bureaureceives feedback from community banks and credit unions with assetsizes below $10 billion that are not under the CFPB's supervision,but may be affected by Bureau regulations,” the CFPB said in itsrelease.

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 28, 2014. The CFPB said allapplicants should have a background in financial services, consumerprotection, fair lending, civil rights, consumer financial productsor services and community development.

The bureau is also seeking applications that have experience asrepresentatives of depository institutions that primarily assistunderserved communities. The CFPB will not consider federallyregistered lobbyists for any positions in the advisory groups.

“The determinants of 'expertise' shall depend, in part, on theconstituency, interests, or industry sector the nominee seeks torepresent, and where appropriate, shall include significantexperience as a direct service provider to consumers,” said anotice in the Federal Register.