WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush recently announced that he intends to nominate former Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Sheila C. Bair to be the next chairman of the FDIC.

Bair is currently serving as the dean's professor of financial regulatory policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Prior to that, she served as assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury. She had a good working relationship with credit unions during her time at Treasury, providing a stark contrast to immediate former FDIC Chairman Don Powell, a former community banker and credit union antagonist.

"She was always fair and always gave us a chance to express our concerns and inform her on our issues," CUNA Associate General Counsel Mary Dunn commented, adding that Bair has a good background to head up the FDIC.