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Conference on Affordable, Responsible Short-Term Credit

Conference on Affordable, Responsible Short-Term Credit

Speakers' Biographies

Christopher J. Spoth
Acting Director
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Mr. Spoth has served as the Acting Director for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection at FDIC Headquarters in Washington, D.C., since August 2005. In this capacity, he is responsible for overseeing the FDIC's bank supervisory activities and six Regional Offices.

At the time of his appointment as Acting Director, he was the Regional Director for the New York Region, where he supervised the examination programs for Risk Management and Consumer Protection for the New York and Boston offices covering the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

Previously, Mr. Spoth was Deputy Regional Director of the Atlanta Region for the FDIC's Division of Supervision. Mr. Spoth has held several positions from 1986 in the FDIC's Headquarters Office in Washington. He served as Assistant Director with responsibility for the Division of Supervision's International Banking Operations. He also served in the Division's Policy Branch as Senior Examinations Specialist, and in the Division's Operations Branch as Review Examiner. Mr. Spoth began his FDIC career in 1980 as a bank examiner in the Atlanta Region and subsequently served as a senior bank examiner in the Kansas City Region.

Mr. Spoth, a Virginia native, is a graduate of Virginia Tech and The Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin. He and his wife Elizabeth have three children, Catherine, Sarah, and Carole.

Thomas J. Curry
Director, Board of Directors
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Thomas J. Curry took office on January 12, 2004, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a six year term.

Mr. Curry previously served five Massachusetts Governors as the Commonwealth's Commissioner of Banks from 1995 to December 2003. He served as Acting Commissioner from February 1994 to June 1995 and as First Deputy Commissioner from 1987 to 1994.

Mr. Curry also served as Chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors from 2000-2001, and as a member of the State Liaison Committee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council from 1996 to 2003.

Mr. Curry joined the Commonwealth's Division of Banks in 1986. He entered state government in 1982 as an attorney with the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office.

Mr. Curry is a graduate of Manhattan College (summa cum laude), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from the New England School of Law.

Michael A. Stegman
Director, Center for Community Capitalism
Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
University of North Carolina

Michael A. Stegman is the Duncan MacRae'09 and Rebecca Kyle MacRae Professor of Public Policy, Planning, and Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chairman of the Department of Public Policy, and Director of the Center for Community Capitalism in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated him and the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment to be Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research (PD&R) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He held that position until June 30, 1997. He also served as Acting Chief of Staff at HUD from November 1996 through April 1997.

He is a Fellow of the Urban Land Institute, a consultant to the Fannie Mae Foundation, a former member of Freddie Mac's Affordable Housing Advisory Council, and serves on several national boards, including the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City directed by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter; One Economy Corporation, a non-profit dedicated to the elimination of the digital divide; and the national advisory board of The Brooking Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. He is past Vice President of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and member of APPAM's Policy Council and Executive Committee, and has served as consultant to HUD, the Treasury Department, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), the U.S. General Accounting Office, and Lehman Brothers.

In 1995, he received both the Lambda Alpha International Washington Chapter Distinguished Educator Award, and the Lambda Alpha International Richard T. Ely Distinguished Educator Award. In its June 14, 1997 issue, the National Journal named him one of Washington's 100 most influential decision makers.

He has written extensively and consulted on financial services for underserved populations, including providing testimony before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services on Treasury's First Accounts initiative. His recent publications include: The Impacts of North Carolina's Predatory Lending Law (2003); Financial Institutions and Individual Development Accounts: Results of a National Survey (2003); Payday Lending: A Business Model That Encourages Chronic Borrowing, Savings and the Poor: The Hidden Benefits of Electronic Banking, (Brookings Institution Press, 1999); Banking the Unbanked: Untapped Market Opportunities for North Carolina's Financial Institutions, University of North Carolina School of Law Banking Institute, Vol. 5, April 2001; Banking and Welfare Reform: Results of the North Carolina Financial Services Survey, January 2002; and, Toward a More Performance-Driven Service Test: Strengthening Basic Banking Services under the Community Reinvestment Act, February 2002.

Yolanda D. McGill
Senior Policy Counsel
Center for Responsible Lending

Yolanda D. McGill attended New York University as a Trustee's Scholar where she received her B.A. in German. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies she returned to North Carolina where she worked for three years before being admitted as a Darrow Scholar to the University of Michigan Law School. She received her J.D. from Michigan in 1999, then entered into the practice of law as an associate with the Financial Restructuring Section of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P in Washington, D.C. Ms. McGill separated from Akin Gump in order to consult and conduct research on corporate reorganization as a Bosch Fellow in Berlin, Germany.

Ms. McGill currently serves as Senior Policy Counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending, an affiliate of Self-Help Credit Union of Durham, North Carolina. Ms. McGill focuses on eliminating the predatory aspects of small consumer credit products generally, including payday lending, refund anticipation loans and credit cards, and her activities include research, writing, lobbying and outreach. She is a member in good standing of the legal bars of Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. In her spare time she maintains her German fluency, advises friends on their creative ventures, and serves as a director on the board of the Robert Bosch Foundation Alumni Association.

Tom Feltner
Communications/Development Associate
Woodstock Institute

Tom Feltner is an associate with the Chicago-based Woodstock Institute, a research and policy organization working to expand access to capital in lower-income and minority communities. Mr. Feltner joined Woodstock Institute in 2003, working on consumer credit issues - primarily payday, auto title, and refund anticipation lending. He holds a master's degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor's degree in Sociology from DePaul University.

Mr. Feltner currently serves on the executive committee of the Monsignor John Egan Campaign for Payday Loan Reform which drafted and passed landmark legislation curbing the most prevalent abuses in the Illinois payday loan industry. He staffs the financial services task force of the Chicago CRA Coalition, a regional coalition working to improve regulation of the Community Reinvestment Act, and serves on the board of the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance.

Sheila Bair
Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy
Isenberg School of Management
University of Massachusetts

Sheila Bair is the Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy at the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management. She has previously held positions as the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the New York Stock Exchange, Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Research Director and Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole. She has a J.D. and B.A. from the University of Kansas. She serves on advisory committees to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporate (FDIC) and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and on the boards of the Center for Responsible Lending and the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA). She has published several articles in the field of financial regulation and has testified before Congress on numerous occasions.

Bair also writes for children, particularly in the areas of money and finance. She has received many awards for articles she has written for Highlights magazine, most recently being recognized by the Association of Educational Publishers. Her first children's book, Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock, will be published by Albert Whitman & Co. in 2006.

Robert S. Grossinger
Senior Vice President
LaSalle Bank

Robert S. Grossinger is Senior Vice President in LaSalle Bank's Civic and Community Development department. He has management responsibility for the Community Reinvestment Act compliance and the community development investments through the LaSalle Community Development Corporation. These responsibilities cover the activities of both LaSalle Bank and, its affiliate, Standard Federal Bank in Michigan. He has served in this capacity since January 2001.

Prior to joining LaSalle Bank, Mr. Grossinger served as Vice President at Bank One in Chicago, where he was responsible for strategic planning and risk management in the CRA department. Prior to joining Bank One, he served as Vice President of a national affordable housing organization and, earlier, as assistant director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. Mr. Grossinger began his career as an attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation working first in Southern Illinois, then Chicago.

Mr. Grossinger received a BA from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1977, and a J.D. from the University of Iowa Law School in 1980.

Ed Jacob
Manager
North Side Credit Union

Ed Jacob is the Manager of the North Side Community Federal Credit Union, a 31 year-old community development credit union with assets of $9 million. The credit union is a certified CDFI, and has a low-income service designation from the National Credit Union Administration. North Side offers checking and savings accounts, ATM cards, small consumer loans, VISA credit cards, new and used auto loans, as well as home equity and home mortgage loans.

Prior to his work at the credit union, Mr. Jacob was a Vice President in the Community Reinvestment Department for Bank One Corporation (and its predecessor banks, First Chicago and First Chicago NBD), where he was responsible for Illinois programs.

From 1981 to 1992, he worked at various community development organizations on Chicago's north side.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Uptown Community Development Corporation, the Chicago Community Loan Fund, The Woodstock Institute and the Illinois Credit Union Foundation. He has previously served on the National Advisory Committee of the Campaign for Human Development, as President of Lakefront SRO Corporation, as Vice President of the Chicago Association of Neighborhood Development Organizations, and as a member of the Small Credit Union Advisory Committee of Mid-States Corporate Federal Credit Union.

In 2003, he received the Tom Gobby Community Leadership Award from LaSalle National Bank for his work in providing affordable credit to low- and moderate-income families.

Mr. Jacob received his Masters in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Marquette University, with a BA in Political Science, Economics, and Urban Affairs.

Rinah Messier
Vice President - Portfolio Management Director
Consumer Credit Risk Management Group
Citibank, N.A.'s Consumer Credit Risk Management Group

Rinah Messier rejoined Citigroup in 2004, as Vice President - Portfolio Management Director for Citibank, N.A.'s Consumer Credit Risk Management group. Her responsibilities include developing lending products for customers without established credit.

From 1996 to 2004, as Vice President - Global Credit Policy Manager for AIG Consumer Finance Group, Ms. Messier wrote and promulgated the global credit policy used to govern the Group's worldwide banks and consumer finance companies. She simultaneously played an active role in evaluating prospective business acquisitions, primarily in Latin America.

In 1988, after working in real estate appraisal, Ms. Messier began her banking career with CitiMortgage, where her wide-ranging responsibilities included establishing mortgage credit policy, furthering the bank's CRA objectives, and supervising the loan workout unit.

Ms. Messier holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and an M.S. from the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T.

Edna R. Sawady
Senior Vice President
KeyBank National Association

Edna R. Sawady is the segment leader for the Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) and the Ethnic client segments in the newly-formed Client Experience practice at KeyCorp.

Sawady leads strategy development and market testing; she is the champion for client acquisition, development, loyalty and advocacy, and is responsible for the segments' P&L, as well as representing the mission for these segments both internally and externally.

Before being appointed segment leader, Sawady served as the Chief Operating Officer of Community Development Banking. In that role, she led the development and initial implementation of Key's "Urban Strategy" - a pioneer approach to serving the LMI market. Before that, Sawady served as Chief Strategist for Key's Consumer Bank where she developed and implemented various cornerstone strategies. Sawady joined Society Corporation, Key's predecessor, in 1986. She established and headed the corporate strategic planning function, serving as an internal consultant to the corporation and its lines of business. Throughout her tenure at Key, Sawady led numerous large-scale change initiatives.

Sawady is originally from Israel; prior to coming to Cleveland she and her family lived in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sawady earned a masters degree in Psychology from Tel Aviv University in Israel, and an MBA from the University of the Witwaterstrand in South Africa.

She is currently on the boards of New Directions, an organization serving chemically dependent adolescents, and New Life Community, an organization providing holistic support and transitional housing for homeless, jobless families.

Ellen Seidman
Senior Managing Director/National Practice
Shorebank Advisory Services (SAS)

Ellen Seidman is the Senior Managing Director/National Practice at Shorebank Advisory Services (SAS). SAS is the consulting affiliate of Shorebank, the first and largest development bank in the United States. Prior to joining SAS, Ms. Seidman served as Senior Counsel to the Democratic staff of the Financial Services Committee of the United States House of Representatives. From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Seidman was the Director of the U.S Treasury Department's Office of Thrift Supervision, heading the 1,200 person bureau responsible for regulating more than 1,000 savings associations around the U.S. Simultaneously, she was a Director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Chairman of the Board of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. From 1993 to 1997, Ms. Seidman served as Special Assistant for Economic Policy to President Clinton. She has also held senior positions at Fannie Mae, the United States Treasury Department and the United States Department of Transportation.

Ms. Seidman sits on the boards of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Center on Federal Financial Institutions, and on the Board of Overseers of the School of Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University and the Eastern Regional Board of Operation Hope. She holds a bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College, a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and an MBA in finance and investments from George Washington University. She has also completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Jena Roscoe
Senior Vice President and Chief of Government Affairs
Operation HOPE, Inc. (OHI)

Jena Roscoe serves as Senior Vice President and Chief of Government Affairs at Operation HOPE, Inc. (OHI), America's first social non-profit national investment banker organization. Ms. Roscoe is the first OHI Senior Director of the newly opened East Coast National Corporate Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Operation HOPE, Inc. (OHI) is an American empowerment leader. OHI brings economic self - sufficiency and a sustained spirit of revitalization to America's inner city communities. OHI provides effective, hands - on implementation of results oriented specialized "Empowerment Programs." Economic Empowerment. Digital Empowerment. Economic Education. Economic Literacy. Digital Literacy.

OHI "Empowerment Programs" measure its success through conversion: transforming check cashing customers into depository customers at banks; renters into homeowners; small business dreamers into small business owners; and minimum wage workers into living wage workers in our inner - city communities. OHI accomplishes these ambitious objectives through its ongoing collaborations and long - term partnerships with leading government, private sector, and community interests.

Ms. Roscoe is a member of the D.C. Chamber Of Commerce, Urban Financial Services Coalition, D.C. Chapter, and the National Bankers Association.

Prior to joining Operation HOPE, Inc., Ms. Roscoe served as the Associate Director for African American and Youth Outreach in the White House Office of Public Liaison. The White House Office of Public Liaison was charged with facilitating advice and policy guidance for the Clinton/Gore Administration's Initiatives, as well as building support for presidential priorities.

Ms. Roscoe also served as Assistant to the President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), the African - American constituency group of the American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). One of the key responsibilities included the mobilization of African American Leaders and Laborers around the policy initiatives of the labor federation.

Ms. Roscoe was recognized for her work within the White House. In 1999, she was highlighted in the book entitled, As I Am: Young African American in a Critical Age.

As a young adult, Ms. Roscoe was recognized as a future American leader for her activism on social justice and civil, economic, education, and human rights issues. In 1996, she was a Democratic National Committee Convention Speaker for the State of Maryland. In 1994, she was highlighted in EBONY Magazine as one of the 30 Future Leaders of America. In 1993, she was a youth speaker at the 30th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

Ms. Roscoe was raised in Camp Springs, Maryland; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Kershaw, South Carolina; but currently resides in Washington, DC. She is an undergraduate alumnus of the Howard University School of Communications and currently working on a graduate degree at the same institution. She is a graduate of The American University in Paris, France study abroad program.

Christopher Peterson
Professor of Law
University of Florida

Christopher Peterson is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Florida where he teaches courses on consumer and commercial law. Professor Peterson's research interests have focused on the law and policy of consumer debt, particularly high cost debt. Prior to coming to the University of Florida, Professor Peterson served as judicial clerk with the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and then as consumer advocate with the United States Public Interest Research Group, a public interest organization in Washington, D.C. While in Washington Professor Peterson lobbied Congress and federal regulatory agencies on behalf of approximately one-half million members of state public interest research organizations around the country. Professor Peterson has lectured on credit policy around the country and internationally, including recent presentations Lima, Peru; London, England; and Zurich, Switzerland. Later this fall he will serve as a visiting Professor at the University of Warsaw in Poland. His work has been covered by numerous national and local media outlets, including USA Today, the American Banker, the Chicago Tribune, and MSNBC. Recently the results from his forthcoming study on payday lender location strategies near military bases were partially reproduced in part in a front page New York Times article. Professor Peterson's book, Taming the Sharks: Towards a Cure for the High Cost Credit Market , received the American College of Consumer Financial Services Attorney's best book of the year award for 2004. This book explores the causes and consequences of recent growth in credit markets catering to low income consumer debtors and suggests possible reforms.

Col. Marcus Beauregard - USAF (Retired)
Coordinator
Department of Defense Financial Readiness Program

Marcus Beauregard, Colonel, USAF (Retired) is employed by Irving Burton Associates, Falls Church, Virginia, and is currently working in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy. He is responsible for continuing the Department of Defense (DoD) Financial Readiness Campaign. He spent 27 years in the U.S. Air Force, having had assignments as a Squadron Commander, the Director of Financial Management for Air Force Services and the Director of MWR policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He retired in July 2003 and started work at Irving Burton Associates in August of the same year.

Robert W. "Bobby" Hoxworth
Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer
Fort Hood National Bank

Bobby Hoxworth is Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer for First Community Bancshares, Inc. a Texas bank holding company that owns First National Bank Texas and Fort Hood National Bank. For over 40 years, Fort Hood National Bank, with its seven on-post banking centers, has been deeply committed to providing the best products and services to soldiers and their families in keeping with its mission of "Serving Those Who Serve". The winner of the coveted Department of Defense Distinguished Bank Service Award five times and the first military bank to ever win the Independent Bankers of Texas Spirit Award, Fort Hood National Bank is a progressive and innovative financial institution committed to improving and enhancing the quality of life in the military community.

Bobby Hoxworth was born and has lived in Texas all of his life. He joined First Community Bancshares, Inc. in 1981 and had numerous assignments in his 24-year banking career prior to being named to his current position in 2001. He received his undergraduate degree in Business from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and earned his MBA from Baylor University. Bobby serves on the Board of Directors of the 52 county Central/South Texas Better Business Bureau, is an active member of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) and serves in key roles in many community organizations. He has been married to his wife Patricia for 21 years and they make their home in Harker Heights, Texas.

Donna J. Gambrell
Deputy Director - Compliance and Consumer Protection
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Donna Gambrell has dedicated the past 25 years to public service. As the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) Deputy Director for Compliance and Consumer Protection, Ms. Gambrell plays an influential role in the areas of consumer protection and public policy, oversees a 500-employee bank examination program, and manages one the FDIC's most visible corporate initiatives-a financial education program called Money Smart, which has reached thousands of low-and moderate-income persons across the country. In October 2003, the Money Smart program was recognized with a Service to America medal by the Partnership for Public Service for positively affecting the lives of thousands in underserved populations.

Ms. Gambrell began her career with the FDIC in April 1991 as a Community Affairs Officer in the agency's New York Region. In March 1996, Ms. Gambrell was promoted to Deputy Regional Director with her area of responsibility including supervision of compliance examinations in the New York Region. She served in this capacity until April 1997, when she was appointed to the position of Associate Director for Consumer/Community Affairs and Outreach in Washington. D.C. In June 2000, she was promoted to Deputy Director of FDIC's Consumer/Community Affairs and Operations Branch in Washington. In June 2002, she was named Deputy Director for Compliance and Consumer Protection of the Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection.

April A. Breslaw
Chief, Compliance Section
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

For the last three years, Ms Breslaw has been Chief of the Compliance Section within the FDIC Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection. Ms. Breslaw is responsible for providing guidance to both FDIC personnel and members of the banking industry on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, unfair and deceptive practices, privacy, and a variety of other consumer protection issues that arise in connection with banking operations.

As a Senior Policy Analyst for consumer protection issues, Ms Breslaw previously worked on projects that encompassed payday and predatory lending issues, as well as fair lending matters. Before focusing on consumer protection issues, Ms. Breslaw spent fifteen years in the FDIC Legal Division in positions that involved responsibility for both litigated and transactional matters. In these positions, Ms. Breslaw dealt with public policy issues associated with both routine bank operations and the operations of severely troubled institutions. Her assignments included investigating and pursuing claims against former directors, officers, and malpractice insurance carriers for losses experienced by financial institutions that had been declared insolvent and closed.

Ms. Breslaw received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida and her Juris Doctor from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Maryland and in numerous federal courts.



Last Updated 12/7/2011 communications@fdic.gov

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