Chairman and President

Fred P. Hochberg is the 23rd president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the U.S. government's official export-credit agency. In this capacity, Hochberg also serves as chairman of the board.

President Barack Obama nominated Hochberg to the position on April 20, 2009. The U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on May 14, 2009, for a term ending on January 20, 2013. He was sworn in as chairman and president on May 21, 2009.

Hochberg has more than 30 years of experience in business, government and philanthropy.  From 2004 to 2008, he was dean of Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.  From 1998 through 2001, he served as deputy, then acting administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), where he vastly improved customer service and substantially increased lending to minority and women small-business owners.

Before joining the Clinton administration, Hochberg was president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small, family mail-order company into a publicly traded, highly successful direct-marketing corporation.

Hochberg said, in joining Ex-Im Bank, that he wants the Bank to be an organization known for its embrace of innovation, which takes prudent risks and provides exceptional service to its customers. He said the Bank plays a key role helping U.S. exporters overcome financing problems growing out of the current economic crisis, and that he will work to open more markets to U.S. exports.

Hochberg is dedicated to community service and philanthropic involvement in civil rights, education and the arts. He recently sat on the boards of the Citizens Budget Commission, FINCA International Micro Finance, and the Howard Gilman Foundation, and he was an appointed representative to the New York State Financial Control Board. Hochberg also served on the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, having been appointed to the position in 2008 by Governor David A. Paterson.

A native of the greater New York metropolitan area, Hochberg received a bachelor of arts from New York University and a master’s of business administration from Columbia University.   Hochberg’s partner is the poet Tom Healy.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency helps to create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sales of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans. In fiscal year 2009, Ex-Im Bank set a record, authorizing more than $21 billion in support of U.S. exports to help ease tightened liquidity during the economic crisis. Ex-Im Bank also set a record for financing of small business exports at $4.36 billion in fiscal 2009.
 
Last Update: January 19, 2010