Kathy Kraninger

Kathleen Laura Kraninger (born December 28, 1974) is a United States government official who is the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), having been confirmed in December 11, 2018. She previously worked in the White House Office of Management and Budget in the Trump administration.

She is a graduate of Marquette University, where she studied history and political science and earned her certification to teach high school social studies. After graduation from college, she taught as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, which redirected her professional career to government services. She has served since then in various US government offices.

Early life and education 
Kraninger was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. She attended Marquette University from 1993 to 1997. While attending college, she interned in the office of then-United States Representative Sherrod Brown. In 1997, she graduated magna cum laude from Marquette with a B.S. in political science and history. After college, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine from September 1997 to November 1999. 

After returning from Ukraine, she studied from 2003 to 2007 at Georgetown University Law Center, where she obtained her Juris Doctor attending law school at night while working during the day.

Career 
Before being nominated as CFPB director, Kraninger worked in budget and national security matters for legislative and executive branch agencies.

Department of Homeland Security (2003–2009) 

Kraninger served as a policy advisor to the United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. From 2006 to 2009 she served as a deputy assistant secretary in the office of screening coordination.

Legislative branch staff (2004–2006 and 2011–2017) 

Kraninger worked as a legislative staffer for both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. She served on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs as a staffer from 2004 to 2006. She also worked as a staff member on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations from 2011 to 2013. From 2013 to 2017 she served as the Senate's Clerk on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Homeland Security, which oversees the budget of the Department of Homeland Security.

Office of Management and Budget (2017–2018) 

Kraninger served as an associate director in the Office of Management and Budget, overseeing general government. As an associate program director, she oversaw $250 billion in funding for seven cabinet departments and other federal agencies, including the United States Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and Treasury.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2018–present) 
On June 16, 2018, White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters announced that President Donald Trump would nominate Kraninger as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a position then held by OMB Director Mick Mulvaney. Consumer groups and Senate conservatives criticized her nomination for her perceived lack of qualifications. Senator Elizabeth Warren threatened to block the nomination over Kraninger's alleged role in the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, which drew criticism for separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S./Mexico border.  Kraninger was confirmed on December 6, 2018, in a 50–49 party-line vote.

Awards 
In 2014, Marquette University awarded Kraninger its Young Alumna of the Year Award. In 2009 she was granted the Meritorious Public Service Award by the United States Coast Guard.

References 

Category:1974 births
Category:Living people
Category:Marquette University alumni
Category:Peace Corps volunteers
Category:Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Category:Trump administration personnel
Category:People of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau