WASHINGTON - During her six-and-a-half years on the NCUA Board, the low point for JoAnn Johnson was undoubtedly her grilling before the House Ways and Means Committee in November 2005, while she was still getting her sea legs as chairman of the board.
“That was definitely the turning point for her,” said one long-time credit union lobbyist last month, when dozens of NCUA employees gathered at the agency for a teary-eyed going-away ceremony for Johnson.
Soon after what was widely considered a disastrous showing before the congressional tax-writing panel, Johnson dismissed her top staff and adopted a more take-charge demeanor, which she exhibited in numerous subsequent appearances testifying before Congress.
“The hubcap almost fell off during that hearing,” noted Len Skiles, executive director for NCUA, who was at the Ways and Means hearing and all subsequent congressional hearings.
“But good things happened” as a result, he said, as Johnson went on to challenge herself and her staff, learned the lessons from the congressional grilling and ending up testifying before Congress a total of 12 times–more than any other NCUA chairman.
The self-described Iowa farm girl, who was appointed to the NCUA Board in 2002 by President Bush, went on to make a mark at NCUA and on the credit union movement in a variety of ways.
She carried on initiatives begun by her predecessors to reward well-run, “Reg-Flex” credit unions, by continuing to champion risk-based capital.
But Johnson might be remembered best for her championing of the rights of the consumer–the tens of millions of credit union members.
She led the way in toughening member disclosure requirements for credit unions converting to mutual savings banks. That led to additional efforts to expand member access to credit union books and records and to enforce member rights as expressed in the standard credit union bylaws applied to every credit union. The shift away from the magical 1% return-on-assets benchmark, so that credit unions could be encouraged to return more to their members is another example.
Uncompleted efforts to increase member access to executive compensation and other important information are expected to be continued by her predecessors.
“The member has been the common denominator in NCUA’s work in these areas and the central animating principle that I have tried to bring to my regulation of credit unions,” said Johnson in her final speach as NCUA chair.
In the end, there was one failure, she lamented, the same one shared by all of her predecessors at NCUA. That is the continued acrimony between the credit unions and the banks. “I could never understand the aggressiveness on the part of the banks when credit unions are there to serve people,” said Johnson. “There’s room for both.”
Meantime, Johnson’s successor, former Illinois credit union and bank regulator Michael Fryzel, said last week he is on his way to Washington, or more precisely, the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Va., where NCUA is headquartered. Fryzel said he is in the process of dissolving his personal law practice, as required by law, and expects to be sworn in as NCUA chairman later this month. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
