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Fred P. Hochberg was formally sworn-in by Vice President Joe Biden as the Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the official export credit agency of the United States. The ceremony was held in the historic Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. Pictured, from left, is the Vice President; Tom Healy, the Chairman's partner, and Chairman Hochberg. (Official White House Photo)

WASHINGTON, DC —- Fred P. Hochberg was formally sworn-in by Vice President Joe Biden this week as the Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the official export credit agency of the United States. In this capacity, Hochberg serves as chairman of the board. The ceremony was held in the historic Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House.

Hochberg assumed his duties several weeks ago after taking the oath of office in a brief ceremony before an assemblage of Bank staff. The oath is required of federal employees before they can begin work.

President Barack Obama nominated Hochberg to the position on April 20, 2009. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on May 14, 2009 for a term ending on January 20, 2013.

I want Ex-Im Bank to be an organization known for its embrace of innovation, an organization that takes prudent risks and provides exceptional service to its customers, Hochberg told staff following an informal swearing-in ceremony. American exporters and the workers they employ need and deserve our best efforts to help keep export sales flowing to foreign buyers, especially during these challenging economic times.

Hochberg has more than 30 years of experience in business, government and philanthropy. From 2004 to 2008 he was dean of Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy. From 1998 through 2001 he served as deputy, then acting administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), where he helped to lead an enhancement of customer service and substantially increased lending to minority and women small-business owners.

Before joining the Clinton administration, Hochberg was president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small, family mail order company into a publicly traded, highly successful direct marketing corporation.

Hochberg said, in joining Ex-Im Bank, that the Bank plays a key role in helping U.S. exporters overcome financing problems growing out of the current economic crisis. The Bank's financing helps create and sustain the jobs of U.S. export workers. He said he will work to open more markets to U.S. exports.

Hochberg is dedicated to community service and philanthropic involvement in civil rights, education and the arts. He recently sat on the boards of the Citizens Budget Commission, FINCA International Micro Finance, and the Howard Gilman Foundation, and has served as an appointed representative to the New York State Financial Control Board. Hochberg also served on the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, having been appointed to the position in 2008 by Governor David A. Paterson.

A native of the greater New York metropolitan area, Hochberg received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University and a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now in its 75th year, helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans. In fiscal year 2008, Ex-Im Bank authorized $14.4 billion in financing to support an estimated $19.6 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. Eighty-six percent of nearly 2,328 transactions directly benefited small-business exporters.