Harper Named NCUA Director

February 8, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — National Credit Union Administration Chairman Debbie Matz today announced the appointment of Todd M. Harper as Director of Public and Congressional Affairs. Harper will assume his duties at NCUA February 14 and will also serve as Chief Policy Advisor to the Chairman. He replaces outgoing PACA Director John McKechnie, who will leave NCUA in early March to pursue a private sector opportunity.
Harper joins NCUA after a 14-year stint on Capitol Hill as a senior aide to Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (D-PA) and also as staff director for the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises. Having worked on Capitol Hill on every major financial services law from the passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 through the adoption of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Harper has developed extensive knowledge of today’s pressing financial services issues and of the legislative and regulatory matters of significance to credit unions.
“I am very pleased that Todd is joining our team,” stated Chairman Matz. “His knowledge, experience and demonstrated capabilities as a legislative practitioner are well established and have placed him in the front-rank of Washington policy professionals. I am confident that Todd Harper will be of immediate benefit to NCUA; he knows and understands credit unions, and he knows and understands the issues that affect them.”
Harper has a long and distinguished history of involvement with credit union issues in Congress. While working for Congressman Kanjorski, Harper was instrumental in the drafting of the first version of the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act (CURIA) in 2003, and played a similar role in succeeding versions over the next two Congresses. He worked to convene the first congressional hearing in 2009 regarding the creation of a Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund. And in 2010, he played a leading role in securing House passage of S. 4036, legislation containing three technical
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amendments requested by NCUA to lower the costs of managing the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund and the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund.
Chairman Matz noted that McKechnie played a key role in those legislative initiatives. “During his five years of outstanding service to NCUA, John has made invaluable contributions to the agency. In addition to working with lawmakers to pass needed legislation on Capitol Hill, John served as NCUA’s spokesperson on many challenging public affairs issues. Faced with difficult questions during the economic downturn, John always worked diligently to communicate the facts and preserve consumer confidence in federally insured credit unions. The entire NCUA board has benefitted from John’s counsel, insight and good humor. We will miss him and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
NCUA is the independent federal agency that regulates, charters and supervises federal credit unions. With the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, NCUA operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the deposits of over 90 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.