Fred Hochberg,
the gay man who headed the Small Business Administration
under President Bill Clinton, will be named by incoming
President Barack Obama as the director of the
Export-Import Bank, ABC News reports. Hochberg, a
longtime figure in both Democratic and gay politics,
had been buzzed about as a possible replacement for Bill
Richardson at the Commerce Department, but his appointment
to the bank means that Obama's cabinet will remain
without a single gay member.
Hochberg was
deputy administrator and then acting administrator of
the SBA. More recently he was the dean of the Milano School
of Management at the New School in New York City.
He supported
Hillary Clinton in last year's Democratic primary.
The Export-Import
Bank, according to ABC News, is the federal
government's export credit arm and finances sales of goods
exported from the U.S. Hochberg will be the bank's
first openly gay director.
The Human Rights
Campaign, where Hochberg has been on the board and is
currently a member of the group's public policy committee,
hailed the expected appointment.
"Fred is one of
the most highly qualified and experienced public
servants in our community, and the fact that President-elect
Obama has tapped him for such an important economic
position speaks well for the LGBT community," HRC
president Joe Solmonese said in a statement.
(Advocate.com)
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