CUNA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Source: CUNA)
On Monday, CUNA added to its advocacy team with the announcement of a new senior director of advocacy and counsel, Damon Smith.
According to the announcement, Smith will contribute to regulatory and advocacy issues. In particular, he will focus on housing policies and financial issues.
Previously, Smith served as the acting general counsel for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he provided legal and policy guidance on a range of programs and activities and set the Department's litigation strategy and regulatory agenda. From his experience at HUD, Smith gained extensive knowledge of banking and consumer regulations impacting the current housing finance environment, according to CUNA's statement.
Damon Smith CUNA Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer & Senior Counsel Elizabeth Eurgubian said, "The extensive work that Damon has done in the housing policy and real estate space is impressive and our team looks forward to leaning on his expertise to further support credit unions through meaningful regulatory change."
She continued, "We are confident that he will play an instrumental role in our regulatory advocacy efforts as we bring credit union issues to the forefront of federal regulators and the administration."
Prior to joining CUNA, Smith was the Partner at Jenner and Block, LLP in Washington, D.C., where he provided counsel to corporations regarding complex matters involving compliance, government regulation and enforcement, according to the announcement.
Smith attended Harvard Law School and holds a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
