CFPB Announces Senior Leadership Hires

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced the hiring of eight experts for key senior leadership positions within the agency. Among those named today are the Chief of Staff, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Principal Deputy General Counsel, Private Education Loan Ombudsman, and Assistant Directors for Legislative Affairs, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Consumer Response.

“The CFPB needs highly-qualified staff, from those who are skilled in handling individual consumer complaints to experts in legislative and intergovernmental affairs to lawyers who are able to craft clear and precise rules,” said Raj Date, Special Advisor to the Secretary of Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “Together with the CFPB staff already on board, these new hires will help us ensure that consumers have the information they need to make the financial choices that are best for them.”

The following individuals were announced today as joining the CFPB leadership team:

Meredith Fuchs will serve as the CFPB’s Chief of Staff. She previously served as CFPB’s Principal Deputy General Counsel. She came to the CFPB from the United States House of Representatives, where she served as Chief Investigative Counsel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Previously, she served as Vice President and General Counsel of the National Security Archive at George Washington University. Fuchs is a former litigation partner at Wiley Rein LLP. Fuchs has served as an officer on the D.C. Bar Board of Governors. She is the recipient of the American Library Association’s James Madison Award. Fuchs served as a law clerk for Judge Patricia M. Wald on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Paul L. Friedman on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Lisa Konwinski will serve as the CFPB’s Assistant Director for Legislative Affairs. Konwinski formerly served as Deputy Assistant to President Obama and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Her experience includes more than 11 years as General Counsel to the Senate Budget Committee, most recently under Budget Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota, specializing in the Congressional budget process and Senate procedure. Prior to that, she was a congressional staffer in the House of Representatives, first as a Senior Legislative Assistant to Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, and later as Counsel and Rules Committee Associate to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York. Konwinski received her B.A. with honors in political science from the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Nicholas Rathod will serve as the CFPB’s Assistant Director for Intergovernmental and International Affairs. Rathod, a civil rights attorney, will work with state, local, territorial, tribal, and international governments. Previously, Rathod served as the Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House. Rathod also has worked as an advisor to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senior Manager of State and Regional Affairs for the Center for American Progress. In addition, Rathod worked on language access and financial empowerment issues with immigrant communities in Washington, D.C. Rathod received his B.A. in political science from Nebraska Wesleyan University and his law degree from the American University’s Washington College of Law.

Sartaj Alag will serve as the CFPB’s Assistant Director for Consumer Response. Alag will oversee the Bureau’s Consumer Response Center which is responsible for handling consumer complaints and inquiries. Alag comes to the CFPB with nearly 10 years of experience in consumer finance including as President of Capital One’s Canadian subsidiary. Prior to his work in consumer finance, Alag was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company. He also worked at Comsat Labs as a member of the technical staff. He holds a B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and an M.S. in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Stephen J. Agostini will serve as the CFPB’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the Bureau, Agostini served as the Chief Financial Officer at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Mr. Agostini has spent the majority of his career managing the finances and budgets for some of the largest cities and counties in the United States, including Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Milwaukee. Mr. Agostini received his B.A. from Harvard College and his Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Chris Willey will serve as the CFPB’s Chief Information Officer (CIO). Prior to joining the Bureau, Willey served as the Deputy CIO at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). At OPM, he was responsible for innovative technology programs. Chris has Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Roberto J. Gonzalez will serve as CFPB’s Principal Deputy General Counsel. He previously served as Deputy General Counsel. He came to the CFPB from the Office of White House Counsel where he served as Associate Counsel to the President and Special Assistant to the President. Previously he was a Senior Litigation Associate and Member of the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, where he represented clients in a range of civil and criminal cases. Gonzalez served as a law clerk for Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Duke University.

Rohit Chopra will serve as the Private Education Loan Ombudsman. This CFPB position was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to assist private student loan borrowers. Chopra most recently worked as a fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, where he focused on student debt and other consumer credit markets. He holds a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. in Finance and Public Policy from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.