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10 | M R EP O RT MCROWD GOVERNMENT ROHIT CHOPRA The U.S. Senate, in a tight 50-48 vote, approved the nomina- tion of Rohit Chopra as the new Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Chopra will assume the role of Director from Acting Director Dave Uejio, who was named to his position by President Biden on January 20, 2021. As CFPB Director, Chopra will oversee a $600 million budget and 1,600-member workforce dedicated to protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices in the financial marketplace. Currently, the CFPB supervises more than 150 depository institutions with assets totaling more than $10 billion. The CFPB also supervises mortgage originators and servicers, and payday lenders, as well as companies from the consumer reporting, consumer debt collection, student loan servic- ing, international money transfer, and automobile financing financial marketplaces. "There is no better person to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at this time than Rohit Chopra, who helped establish the foundation for the CFPB in the af- termath of the 2008 financial crisis," said Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services. "In 2011, he joined the agency and served as the first Student Loan Ombudsman, working tirelessly to protect student borrowers. More recently, as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, he has fought for con- sumers against predatory actors and helped to scrutinize anti-competitive industries, like Big Tech." Chopra served as CFPB Assistant Director and was its first Student Loan Ombudsman before he was nominated to serve as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2018. During his tenure at the FTC, he pushed for aggressive remedies against lawbreaking companies, especially repeat offenders, and has worked to reverse the FTC's reliance on no-money, no-fault settlements. After the passage of the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Chopra joined the Department of the Treasury to launch the CFPB. He then served as Assistant Director of the CFPB, overseeing the agency's student loan agenda. As the CFPB's Student Loan Ombudsman, Chopra led efforts to spur competition in the student loan financing market, develop new tools for students and student loan borrowers to make smarter deci- sions, and secure hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds for borrowers victimized by unlawful conduct by loan servicers, debt collectors, and for-profit college chains. Chopra later served as Special Advisor to the Secretary of Education to advance the Department's efforts to improve student loan servicing, reduce unnecessary defaults, and bolster enforcement. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, where he fo- cused on consumer protection issues facing young people and military families, and a Visiting Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. Chopra is the recipient of multiple awards for his public service and contributions to the field of consumer finance. Prior to entering govern- ment, Chopra worked at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, where he worked in the financial services, health care, and consumer technology sectors. He holds a B,A. from Harvard University, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship. "Congratulations on your confirma- tion as Director of the @CFPB, Rohit @ChopraFTC!" said Sen. Elizabeth Warren via Twitter. "I worked closely with Rohit to set up the CFPB and fight for America's students. He is a terrific champion for consumers and will be a fearless leader of the Bureau. Let's get to work!" Rep. Waters added, "At a time when consumers need a strong watchdog, Mr. Chopra will be an advocate for working families. So, I congratulate Mr. Chopra on his con- firmation, and as Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, I look forward to working with him closely to better protect consumers." "The CFPB will have a leader who is ready to stand up to the biggest banks and the most powerful cor- porations to protect families, service members, students, and the elderly," said Sen. Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. "Congratulations to Mr. Chopra. I applaud my colleagues for coming together to confirm this key nominee and look forward to working with Director Chopra to protect all con- sumers." This month, some of the industry's largest companies saw significant changes to their corporate lineups. Who's moving on and who's moving up in the industry ALANNA MCCARGO President Biden has nominated Alanna McCargo, Senior Advisor for Housing Finance in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to be President of Ginnie Mae. It has been about four years since Ginnie Mae—which serves as the principal financing arm for govern- ment mortgage loans, ensuring that mortgage lenders have the necessary funds to provide loans to borrowers— has had a permanent leader. McCargo's career in housing spans decades during which she has con- centrated on understanding, through data and analysis, how to create a more equitable housing finance sys- tem, according to a White House Fact Sheet announcing the nomination. She joined the Biden-Harris administration after serving as VP of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she developed a body of work focused on reducing racial homeownership gaps, increasing housing affordability, and reducing barriers to accessing home- ownership opportunities. Ed Delgado, Managing Director, MPA; Chairman, Five Star Global— parent company of DS News and MReport—commented on the nomi- nation. "I have had the privilege of working with Alanna McCargo for more than a decade. She is an insightful and dynamic leader who is a guardian for homeownership and our nation's housing system," Delgado said. President and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Robert D. Broeksmit also applauded the decision. "Ginnie Mae is a critically important agency in our housing finance system, and Alanna has a deep understanding of the agency and a demonstrated track record of working with industry, government, and housing advo- cates on key housing policy issues," Broeksmit said. "MBA looks forward to work- ing with her, and other senior staff at Ginnie Mae, on ways to enhance liquidity for Ginnie Mae mortgage- backed securities and help make affordable residential and rental housing a reality for millions of low- and moderate-income households by channeling global capital into the nation's housing markets."