Hearing on Pending Nominations

Chairman Sarbanes, Senator Gramm, Members of the Committee, I appear before you today as a Board member and nominee to the Board of the National Credit Union Administration. With me today is my husband, Marshall Matz, and our son Peter, a sophomore at Langley High School. Our daughter Hayley, a junior at Tulane University, is listening to us on-line.

Mr. Chairman, first and foremost, I would like to thank you and the Committee for conducting this hearing so quickly after my nomination, especially given your full agenda. I appreciate the counsel and support that I have received from your staff, Steve Harris, Marty Gruenberg, and Judith Keenan, in particular.

I am especially grateful to the distinguished Senate Majority Leader, Senator Tom Daschle, for recommending me, and to President Bush for nominating me, to this position. Senator Daschle’s support and confidence is deeply appreciated.

I would like to thank NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar and my fellow Board member and nominee, JoAnn Johnson, for their warm welcome and the spirit of professional collegiality that already exists on the Board. And last, but not least, I want to thank the talented staff at NCUA who have provided thorough briefings and insight on the many functions of this independent agency.

Mr. Chairman, if confirmed, I will bring to the NCUA Board over twenty years of public sector experience. For nine years, I served as an economist with the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, followed by seven years as a Presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). While at USDA I chaired the Loan Resolution Task Force, created to resolve delinquent farm loans in excess of $1 million. When I was appointed to the Task Force, the portfolio was over $1 billion in principal; when the Task Force ended, we had resolved virtually all of the loans that were not encumbered by litigation or bankruptcy proceedings.

What type of Board member and regulator do I hope to be? I will have several guiding principals:

• I will work hard to ensure that credit unions remain safe and sound financial institutions.

• As a member of three credit unions, I will be dedicated to the goals and purposes of the original enabling legislation. I strongly identify with the ideal of helping working people and others who are not being served by traditional financial institutions.

• I will strive to be recognized as a fair and thoughtful regulator---one who realizes the value and necessity of regulation while being sensitive to the needs of those who are being regulated.

• If confirmed, I will work closely with all Members of this Committee, and all Members of Congress, to ensure the financial integrity of credit unions in a changing environment.

In closing, I consider credit unions to be the "jewel" in the crown of the financial service sector. I will work diligently to protect this precious jewel; to end predatory loan practices; and to extend the benefits of credit unions to all eligible Americans, particularly the underserved.

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I would be pleased to answer any questions that the Committee may have.

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