After former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger stepped down Wednesday at the request of President Joe Biden, Dave Uejio took over as the bureau’s acting director.
Biden named Uejio acting director late Wednesday, moving him from his previous role as CFPB strategy program manager. In that role, he reported to the deputy director, led the 30-person Office of Strategy to define the bureau’s enterprise level strategy and policy priorities, identified and managed enterprise risks, evaluated impact of major programs and drove organizational performance.
Uejio originally joined CFPB in February 2012 as its first lead for talent acquisition, where he created a recruiting program to support the start-up of the bureau. Through the years he has held other roles at the CFPB including strategy program manager, acting deputy chief of staff and acting chief of staff.
“I am obsessed with providing the American people with the world-class federal government they deserve,” Uejio said on his LinkedIn bio. “I help agencies define their strategy, prioritize their work, identify and address the risks standing in the way and leverage data to measure their impact and performance. At the CFPB, that means aligning the incredible experts of the bureau to translate the mission into action.”
Uejio will serve as acting director until Biden’s nominee, Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rohit Chopra, is confirmed by the Senate as the next director of the CFPB.
Although Kraninger’s term was not set to expire until 2023, Biden was able to appoint his own CFPB director because in 2020, the Supreme Court decision in Seila Law versus the CFPB declared the CFPB’s leadership structure unconstitutional, saying it violated the Constitution’s separation of powers by placing leadership of the agency in the hands of a single director who could only be removed for cause. The court declared the director removable at-will by the president instead.
While the Biden transition team made it clear Monday it was willing to exercise its right to remove Kraninger, it wasn’t necessary.
“As requested by the Biden administration, today I resigned as Director of the CFPB,” Kraninger said in a resignation letter to the president. “I am proud of all that we accomplished on behalf of consumers. It has been an honor to lead the agency during these challenging times.”
With Democrats controlling the Senate, Chopra’s confirmation is not expected to be a long process. This would be a stark contrast to the previous transition, when former President Donald Trump nominated Kraninger just before the 210-day deadline.
