Roberta Achtenberg, former chief fair-lending enforcer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is returning to the agency after an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of San Francisco.
She'll serve as a senior adviser to HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros - in charge of handling special projects. HUD spokeswoman Aylin Gonen said Mr. Cisneros asked Ms. Achtenberg to return because he was so impressed with her handling of the Vidor, Tex., housing integration project in 1994.
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Alan Greenspan shouldn't give up his day job to become a stand-up comic.
When the Federal Reserve Board chairman addressed the National Governors Association last week, he delivered a one-liner that fell flat. "I'm really quite impressed to look around the room and see that everyone has the same first name," the Fed chairman said to little laughter. Placards set before each state's chief executive read "Governor" followed by each person's name.
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Irish eyes were smiling Thursday when Washington banking lobbyist Paul Quinn of law firm Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn hosted a reception for Dick Spring, Ireland's deputy prime minister. In town to thank President Clinton for his assistance toward peace in Northern Ireland, Mr. Spring was greeted by a host of politicians, financial services executives, and labor leaders at the Dubliner, a popular Washington pub.
Among Mr. Spring's well wishers were Bruce Morrison, chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board; J. Denis O'Toole, Household International lobbyist; and Barbara Shycoff, lobbyist for American Express.
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Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, will host a financial services technology summit Feb. 22 at Utah Valley State College in Orem to introduce software executives in his state to financial services industry officials. Utah's software industry includes such heavyweights as Novell and Wordperfect.
More than 400 bankers, securities, and software executives have signed up for the summit, which includes panel discussions featuring William Binzel, MasterCard lobbyist; David Boyles, American Express senior vice president of new business; Jeffrey Marquardt, the Federal Reserve's assistant director for payment systems; and Martin A. Kamark, vice chairman of the Export-Import Bank.
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Alicia Munnell was confirmed by the Senate to be a member of the Council of Economic Advisers late last month. Ms. Munnell has been an assistant Treasury secretary since 1993.
Bankers have kept a wary eye on her since 1992, when she wrote a controversial study concluding that banks discriminate against minorities while she was director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Since then. her name has surfaced periodically as a possible candidate for the Federal Reserve Board.
The Senate also has confirmed professor Issac Hunt and lawyer Norman Johnson for seats on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Banking lawyer Kathleen W. Collins is switching firms. She's joining Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as head of its financial institutions regulatory practice. Ms. Collins, formerly a partner at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, was general counsel for the National Bank of Washington for 11 years before it closed in August 1990.
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Leland M. Stenehjem, president of First International Bank and Trust, Fargo, N.D., is slated to be the next president of the Independent Bankers Association of America.
He will replace Richard L. Mount, who moves up to chairman of the community bank trade group. William D. Sones, chairman of State Bank and Trust Co., Brookhaven, Miss., was named president-elect. And William L. McQuillan, president of City National Bank, Greeley, Neb., was designated as the next vice president.
The nominations are to be formally approved in early March during the IBAA's annual convention in Las Vegas.
