ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA saw a number of staffing changes as newly installed board members named executive assistants and typical comings and goings occurred.

Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to the Chairman Holly Herman left the agency effective Nov. 10. She began her service at NCUA in February 2004 after leaving the top spot at Kraft Foods Federal Credit Union.

After her departure from NCUA, the marathoner planned to begin pursuing other career options according to federal government post-employment law that prohibits her from looking for a new job before leaving the agency. She hopes to stay within the credit union movement. Before her approximately nine years at Kraft Foods FCU in White Plains, N.Y., Herman had turned around the ailing University and State Employees Credit Union in San Diego as president/CEO there from 1991 through 1994, having served as chief financial officer a couple years before that. She also served as controller at Rancho Bernardo Savings Bank in San Diego in the late 1980s.

Earlier in the year, the two newer board members brought on their senior policy advisors. NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney Hood welcomed Carlton Hoskins. He has more than 11 years of public and private sector experience, most recently as a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. Prior to joining the international consulting firm, he served as the senior legislative assistant to Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

The board's only Democrat, Gigi Hyland, added Gary Kohn to her staff as senior policy advisor this year. He came to NCUA after serving as one of the top lobbyists at CUNA for more than 12 years. He also worked as a lobbyist for the former Independent Bankers Association of America (currently the Independent Community Bankers of America) and the Investment Company Institute before that.

Also from CUNA, Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs John McKechnie moved to NCUA, too, as director of public and congressional affairs as of Jan. 19. He replaced Cliff Northup who received an appointment at the U.S. Mint.

McKechnie had accepted the post previously from former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar, but changed his mind after CUNA offered him a promotion. He spent 19 years with CUNA.

A last vestige of the Dollar-era, Director of External Affairs Nicholas Owens left the agency March 24, after serving under both Dollar and Johnson. He received an appointment at another agency of importance to credit unions: ombudsman to the Small Business Administration.

Joining NCUA's staff this year was Anne-Marie Kelley, who has been appointed NCUA's new special assistant for legislative affairs. She previously served as legislative assistant to Senate Banking Committee Member Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) where she analyzed and coordinated legislative issues dealing with banking, tax, agriculture, SBA, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

NCUA's career staff also underwent some adjustments. Region IV Director Jane A. Walters, an agency veteran, was named the agency's new deputy executive director, assisting with the day-to-day running of the agency. She had been serving as the regional director in Austin, Texas since May 2001. She has served in a variety of positions during her career with NCUA, which began in 1981, from examiner to controller to director of Region II and the former Region IV and before NCUA's district realignment a few years ago. Keith C. Morton replaced her as director of Region IV effective May 14; he had been acting Region IV director since just one day before Hurricane Katrina struck in that region. Morton had served as associate regional director since January 2002. He began as an examiner in Region II in 1986. Finally, earlier this month, 33-year agency veteran Edward P. Dupcak, director of Region II, announced that he would be retiring at the end of the year. Dupcak came to NCUA in 1974 as an examiner in New York and later in Washington, D.C. In 1979, he joined the staff of the Central Liquidity Facility. He has held the positions of investment officer and director of risk management in the Office of Examination and Insurance and was director of the Office of Strategic Program Support and Planning prior to becoming the Region II director in 2003. --scooke@cutimes.com

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NCUA Career and Political Staff Make Adjustments; Two Long-Time CUNA Lobbyists Join the Agency

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