CHICAGO – The transition at NCUA was conducted quietly here yesterday when Michael Fryzel was sworn in as new NCUA Chairman.
Fryzel, a Chicago lawyer and long-time credit union figure, was sworn in by his friend, Lee Preston, judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.
Yesterday’s taking of oath was facilitated by last week’s departure of JoAnn Johnson, who returned to her native Iowa after six-and-a-half years on the NCUA Board, the last four as chairman of the three-member panel.
Fryzel, a Republican appointed by President Bush, comes to NCUA at a time of growing credit union losses and the worst stress on the National CU Share Insurance Fund since a big wave of credit union failures at the same time as the S&L crisis, in the late 1980s, early 1990s.
Fryzel is a protégé of former NCUA Chairman Ed Callahan and has a long career in credit unions. He served as top executive in the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions when Callahan headed the state credit union and banking regulator, then succeeded Callahan as director when Callahan moved to NCUA in 1982. After his tenure in the state agency, Fryzel served for 17 years on the state’s CU Advisory Board and represented many credit unions through his personal law practice.
