The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday announced the appointment of a diverse group of 25 experts to its newly-formed Consumer Advisory Board.
The board, required by the Dodd-Frank Act, will advise and consult with CFPB Director Richard Cordray on a variety of consumer financial issues. No one group dominates the board, which includes bank and credit union executives, consumer advocates and community development officials.
Jose Quinonez, executive director of Mission Asset Fund, a San Francisco nonprofit that creates financial products for unbanked, low-income and immigrant customers, was named chairperson of the board. Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Enterprise Corp., a Jackson, Miss., community development financial institution, was named vice chairperson.
Neither consumer advocates nor bank and credit union executives dominate the board appointments. Some notable board members include Georgetown University Law Center professor Adam Levitin; Josh Silverman, president of consumer services at American Express, and Michelle Peluso, the chief marketing and Internet officer for the global consumer business at Citigroup.
Many of the board members have some experience to consumer protection issues. For example, Judge Annette Rizzo, of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, oversees a residential mortgage foreclosure program that helps residents resolve cases through remediation.
"Like everything they've done so far, it shows a tremendous amount of openness to diverse opinions and a deep knowledge of thinking about where the bureau wants to go," says Prentiss Cox, an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota and former assistant attorney general of that state, who was appointed to the board.
The board's first meeting will take place on Sept. 27 in St. Louis. Board members have staggered three-year terms and the board is expected to meet at least twice a year.
