The federal consumer financial protection agency officially has a new director, as Kathleen (“Kathy”) Kraninger was sworn in Monday evening; she was confirmed to serve a five-year term by the Senate Thursday.
Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office. According to some reports, she will hold a press conference Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. ET.
New BCFP Director Kathleen Kraninger listens as Vice President Mike Pence offers some remarks at the swearing-in ceremony for Kraninger, Dec. 10
She succeeds in the position John (“Mick”) Mulvaney, who had been serving as acting director since November 2017. Mulvaney was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump following the resignation of the agency’s first director, Richard Cordray.
Kraninger, who turns 44 in just under three weeks, has spent the last more than 20 years mostly working as a staff member for Congress or for federal agencies. She also spent some time in the Peace Corps, working in Ukraine.
However, her publicly available resume shows no experience in either consumer affairs or in financial regulation.
Since March of last year, she has served as associate director for general government for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which Mulvaney also oversees as director. In that role, according to a 2017 bio, she “oversees budget development and execution for a number of executive branch agencies including the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security (DHS), Housing and Urban Development, Transportation (DOT), and Treasury.” (BCFP is not listed in her bio among the agencies.)
Before joining OMB, she served as the clerk of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, the bio states, noting that committee “provides DHS with its $40 billion discretionary budget.”
Other congressional staffing positions include those on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security as well as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The bio also lists posts (though not described) with the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security (DOT and DHS, respectively). According to The Wall Street Journal, in a July 2016 interview with Federal News Radio for its “Women of Washington” series, she talked about being part of the team that set up DHS in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
She is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., according to the bio. It also states she earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2007.