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Jan. 6, 2014 – Tawana James on Friday retired from her position as director of the NCUA Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

Linda Dent, NCUA's associate general counsel for administrative law (and a former director of regulatory compliance for NAFCU), is now acting director of the OMWI office. NCUA said it will name a permanent OMWI director at a later date.

James joined NCUA in 1980 as a temporary technician and later became an examiner. Most recently, she led the establishment of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion under Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act. In this role, she addressed issues of diversity, civil rights, the promotion of minority and women hiring and contracting practices of minority- and women-owned businesses within NCUA and the credit union industry at large.

"Promoting greater diversity is one of this agency's top priorities," NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said, "and Tawana has served NCUA and the credit union system well in her role as point person on these issues. She took on the formidable task of creating a new office with broad responsibilities and succeeded. She also provided valuable support for credit unions serving diverse communities."

James "has done an outstanding job as head of the Office of Minority Women and Inclusion, and her expertise will be missed," said Board Member Michael Fryzel.

James held several executive-level positions at NCUA since 1994, including among those director of the Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives, deputy executive director, regional director and deputy director of the Office of Examination and Insurance.