The New Kings of the Hill: Fred Hochberg

In a battered global economy, the ability to instill confidence is just as important as the capacity to generate credit. As the prospective head of the Export-Import Bank, Fred Hochberg has the capacity to do both. An accomplished entrepreneur, philanthropist, and administrator, he specializes above all in creating opportunity.

"He is charming and impish -- he's a connector," says CNN political commentator Hilary Rosen, a longtime friend.

At press time, Hochberg had been nominated by President Obama but had not yet been confirmed to lead the Ex-Im Bank, the official export credit agency of the United States. The vital agency finances the export of American goods and services abroad and benefits small businesses in most of its transactions.

Hochberg served as deputy and then acting administrator of the SBA from 1998 to 2000, during which time he increased outreach to women and minority business owners. He also became an informal but influential authority on gay issues.

"I consulted with him frequently on the challenges and success of the president's agenda," says Richard Socarides, a Clinton adviser on LGBT policies and personnel. "He was never reluctant to give me his opinion or to give me advice, which I appreciated."

More recently, the New Yorker with an MBA from Columbia University has imparted his invigorating touch to academia, serving as dean of Milano the New School for Management and Urban Policy in New York City.

"We concluded that what we really needed was somebody like Fred," says former U.S. senator Bob Kerrey, president of the New School, who recruited Hochberg to come on board in 2004 to address the program's substantial deficit, lackluster fund-raising, and scarce public programming. "Fred solved all the problems pretty quickly."

Hochberg has also served on the boards of international nonprofit organizations, which friends say has bolstered his understanding of microcredit as a tool to finance progress in countries such as Afghanistan.

The New Kings of the Hill View profiles of President Obama's LGBT appointees Brad Kiley Brian Bond John Berry Mike Perriello Michael Camunez Nancy Sutley