Jim Nussle, former IowaRepublican congressman and director of the White House Office ofManagement and Budget for President George W. Bush, has been namedthe new president/CEO of CUNA, the trade group announced onTuesday.

CUNA said Nussle, an eight-term congressman who served aschairman of the House Budget Committee, starts his new role in thenext few weeks. Nussle won the Iowa Republican primary for governorbut lost the general election in 2006. He was appointed as OMBdirector in 2007 and served until 2009 when President Bush leftoffice. He later founded a public affairs media and strategicconsulting firm called The Nussle Group.

“I have witnessed first-hand the enthusiastic advocacy of thenation's nearly 7,000 credit unions and I look forward to workingwith them to ensure the credit union message and policy prioritiesare clearly understood in Washington and nationwide,” Nussle said.“At a time when trustworthiness is at a premium, the individualswho make up the more than 100 million memberships at creditunions.”

Former President/CEO Bill Cheney left CUNAin June for the CEO job at the $10.3 billion SchoolsFirst CreditUnion in Santa Ana, Calif. CUNA Chief Economist Bill Hampel servedas interim president/CEO.

“After an exhaustive search, in which nearly 100 highlyqualified candidates were considered, the CUNA Board hasunanimously accepted and certified the executive search committee'srecommendation of Jim as the next chief executive of ourassociation,” said CUNA Chairman Dennis Pierce.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jim to CUNA and believe hisexperience at the highest levels of Congress and the federalexecutive branch, as well as his time in association leadership,positions him well to lead our association and represent ourmembers,” said Susan Streifel, chair of the CUNA Board's executivesearch committee and vice chair of the CUNA Board.

Nussle is also a member of the “Campaign to Fix the Debt”steering committee, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to puttingAmerica on a better fiscal path, according to the campaign'sofficial website.

“We have come together from a variety of social, economic andpolitical perspectives, around the common belief that America'sgrowing federal debt threatens our future and that we must addressit,” the campaign's official website read.

NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger congratulated Nussle on hisappointment.

“We look forward to working with Jim as we continue to addressthose issues impacting the credit union industry,” Berger said.“Jim's experience and insight will be a great foundation for hisnew position.”