OCC Names Ralph E. Sharpe New Community and Consumer Policy Chief

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today named Ralph E. Sharpe to be Deputy Comptroller for Community and Consumer Policy, effective June 4, 1999. He will report to Wayne Rushton, the OCC's Senior Deputy Comptroller for Bank Supervision Policy.

"Ralph brings a wealth of knowledge and practical experience in bank supervision, policy and law to his new role at the OCC," said Comptroller John D. Hawke Jr., "we're very privileged to have his leadership in an area that continues to be central to the OCC's mission."

Mr. Sharpe, who succeeds Stephen M. Cross, will head the OCC division responsible for establishing policies to ensure national bank compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and fair lending and other consumer protection laws, including the Truth in Lending and Truth in Savings Acts. The OCC's Asset Management Division, under the direction of Lisa Lintecum, will continue to report to Mr. Sharpe.

Since 1997, Mr. Sharpe has been Senior Policy Advisor to Senior Deputy Comptroller Rushton. Clifford A. Wilke, Director of Bank Technology, who has been reporting to Mr. Sharpe, will now report directly to Mr. Rushton.

From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Sharpe was Deputy Comptroller for Multinational Banking. He served in the OCC's law department as Director of the Enforcement and Compliance Division from 1984 to 1994, and was Assistant Director in the Litigation Division from 1982 to 1984. He joined the OCC in 1978 as a staff attorney. Previously, Mr. Sharpe was a staff attorney at the U.S. Department of Energy and an appellate defense attorney in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Mr. Sharpe graduated in 1974 from the University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin. He received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1969.