Obama announces members of new economic panel

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Joseph T. Hansen, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

Joseph T. Hansen is the President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) which represents more than 1.3 million workers in the U.S. and Canada, and Chair of Change to Win. He was elected to serve as UFCW Secretary-Treasurer in 1997 and President in 2004. In 2003 he took office as President of Union Network International and was reelected as President in 2005. In 2010, Mr. Hansen was appointed to President Obama’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations.

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Richard L. Trumka, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

Richard L. Trumka is President of the AFL-CIO. From 1995-2009, he served as AFL-CIO’s Secretary-Treasurer and, as a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, was Chairman of the Strategic Approaches Committee. Before his time with the AFL-CIO, Mr. Trumka was the International President of the United Mine Workers of America. Mr. Trumka serves on numerous boards, including the National Labor College, Economic Policy Institute, ULLICO Inc., the Housing Investment Trust, the Solidarity Center, Alliance for Retired Americans and Union Privilege. In 2009, Mr. Trumka was appointed to President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Mr. Trumka received a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. from Villanova University.

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As the new federal consumer watchdog agency takes shape, Wall Street might see a few familiar faces on its roster.

Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard University law professor who is setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced her latest string of hires on Thursday, including former managing directors at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consumers from abuses in the lending industry. Now the bureau is turning to former members of the industry to help it police banks, credit card companies and mortgage lenders.

“Building a team to develop smarter financial regulations means hiring top-notch leaders with a wide range of experiences,” Ms. Warren said in a statement.

The bureau’s hires announced Thursday include Rajeev Date, the former Deutsche Bank managing director. Mr. Date, who also worked at Capital One Financial as a senior vice president, will be the bureau’s associate director for research, markets and regulations.

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Ms. Warren also hired Elizabeth Vale, a Morgan Stanley managing director who was vice president and portfolio manager at Philadelphia National Bank. Her industry experience will come in handy — she will serve as a liaison to community banks and credit unions.

Ms. Warren’s hires also include a former financial industry lawyer, a former senior employee at the mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac and Corey Stone, who once was the chairman of Start Community Bank in New Haven, Conn.

The bureau has gone on a hiring spree in recent weeks. As of late January, the bureau had more than 100 employees.

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A consumer protection bureau might seem like an unlikely place for former bankers to land, but Ms. Warren has made an effort to reach out to Wall Street. Since taking the job in September, she has met with several top bankers, including Jamie Dimon, Vikram S. Pandit and James P. Gorman, the chief executives of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, respectively.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/consumer-watchdog-hires-former-bankers/