In yet another sign that Rohit Chopra is on his way to the Director’s office of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House yesterday announced it was nominating the CFPB’s current Acting Director, Dave Uejio, to be an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
If confirmed by the Senate, Uejio would replace Anna Maria Farias, who has led HUD’s fair housing division since being appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017. Farias was one of a number of HUD executives who were recently called out in a published media report about problems at the department. Farias specifically was cited in the report for creating “an especially toxic workplace.”
Uejio has served as Acting Director of the CFPB for five months, being named to the post after former Director Kathleen Kraninger resigned at the request of President Joe Biden. Uejio was the CFPB’s Chief Strategy Officer at the time of his promotion to Acting Director and had spent nearly a decade working at the CFPB. When he was named Acting Director, former CFPB Director Richard Cordray said of Uejio, “He’s a great interim pick and he doesn’t regard the role as simply a caretaker. He knows there are important things they need to be doing …”
Chopra’s nomination was confirmed by the Senate Banking Committee back in March and has been awaiting a vote before the full Senate since then. His nomination appeared to have been held up until a replacement could be nominated and confirmed by the Senate to take Chopra’s spot as a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. Lina Khan was confirmed earlier this month, freeing Chopra up to take the reins at the CFPB.
Uejio has spent 15 years working in government service, spending time at the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
