Personnel changes at the upper ranks of the national bank regulator will move a temporary chief counsel into that office to take the place of the departing incumbent in the position, who is joining another agency.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said Ted Dowd will become acting senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel at the agency, effective April 8. Dowd will serve in the position while the OCC looks for a successor to the incumbent, Ben McDonough, who the agency said is taking a position at another agency.
Dowd is an 18-year veteran of the OCC; he became deputy chief counsel in 2018. The agency said that, in that role, he is responsible for “a broad range of legal matters related to bank powers and structure, financial technology, and licensing transactions.” He is also responsible for overseeing the operations of all OCC district counsel offices, the agency said.
Departing Chief Counsel McDonough has served in that job since June 2021. In a statement, Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu lauded McDonough’s “outstanding and steady leadership as Chief Counsel and a member of our Executive Committee.”
The OCC did not say which agency McDonough was joining, only that he starts his new job on April 8.
Ted Dowd Named Acting Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel