Dive Brief:

• The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) has named Lindsey Johnson to succeed longtime head Richard Hunt as president and CEO upon his retirement July 5, according to a Tuesday press release. 
• Johnson serves as president of the U.S. Mortgage Insurers (USMI), another trade organization, and will step down June 6 from her post there, according to a USMI press release.
• Johnson will be the first woman to lead the CBA, and the only woman to head a trade group representing large U.S. banks, a spokesman for the organization told Banking Dive. 

Dive Insight:

Johnson will take the reins of the CBA from Richard Hunt, who has served as president and CEO of the trade association since 2009. Hunt announced plans to step down from the organization in November.

“Throughout her career, Lindsey has demonstrated her ability to lead teams, work with a broad range of stakeholders, and deliver policy outcomes, and she will be a fierce advocate for our membership and the industry," Hunt said in the press release. "After 13 wonderful years serving as CBA’s president and CEO, I am confident Lindsey is the right leader [for] this truly incredible organization.”

Johnson has led USMI, a trade association representing mortgage insurance companies, since 2015. She will assist that organization's board of directors in leadership transition planning as it launches a search for a new president.

“I am honored to be joining an organization that has been the leading voice of America’s retail banks for more than a century,” Johnson said. “The banking industry is undergoing an historic transformation — from the rise in new technologies that have changed how consumers bank to increased regulatory pressures — and, at every turn, CBA has helped its members successfully anticipate and navigate a new, 21st century terrain."

Johnson will be the first woman to serve as president and CEO of the CBA, and the only woman at the helm of a trade organization representing large U.S.-based banks. The American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute and Financial Services Forum are led by men.

“With a depth of financial services knowledge and a proven record of bipartisan advocacy, Lindsey is just the leader we were looking for to promote the work of our member banks, advance commonsense policy solutions and champion our industry and the customers we serve,” Michelle Lee, the CBA's board chair and Wells Fargo's head of regional banking, said in a press release.

The CBA, under Hunt's leadership, locked horns with regulators over the student debt crisis and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's investigation into overdraft and "junk fees," among other issues. More recently, the organization voiced support for the CFPB's invocation of "dormant authority" to crack down on nonbanks.

Before leading USMI, Johnson served as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and as the Republican staff director for the Senate Banking Committee’s National Security and International Trade and Finance Subcommittee.

Johnson also worked as a senior policy adviser to now-former Sen. Mark Kirk, R-IL, and served as director for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta for seven years. Johnson represented the latter during several key legislative reforms for industry, including the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and Dodd-Frank Act, according to her USMI company profile.