Former IRS Exec to Head NCUA's Office of Minority and Women Inclusion

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After a six-month search process, NCUA announced Monday that it has hired Monica Hughes Davy as the regulator's new Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

Davy formerly worked as the executive director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Internal Revenue Service. Prior to that she led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Management as acting director and also served as senior trial attorney at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Davy began her new position on Monday.

The regulator has been looking for a new OMWI director since the beginning of the year following the departure in January of Tawana Y. James from the position.

Linda Dent, the agency's associate general counsel for administrative law had been serving as an interim director during the search process. The position was advertised on USAJobs.com with a salary ranging from $178,000 to $240,000.

Davy holds degrees from Howard University School of Law in Washington DC and George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Monica, who brings a wealth of experience to this important agency post," NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said in a statement. "NCUA takes our responsibilities very seriously in supporting greater diversity among our workforce and in our contracting, and we have found an excellent individual to lead this important office. Monica's public service has been marked by a deep commitment to fairness and promoting opportunity, and she has shown the kind of thoughtful and innovative leadership that will be a great addition to this agency."

Established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, NCUA's OMWI oversees issues related to diversity in management, employment and business activities. The office works to ensure equal opportunities for everyone in NCUA's workforce, programs and contracts.

NCUA said the OMWI also works to preserve minority depository institutions and develop standards to assess the diversity policies and practices of credit unions regulated by NCUA.

But the office has had its own diversity issues come to the forefront after it was disclosed earlier this year that NCUA did not meet over half of its employment diversity goals for 2013, hitting only 40% of its target achievements in this category.