Press
Student Choice addresses regulatory burden, hiring student lending compliancy expert Renee Buckner
WASHINGTON, DC (April 7, 2015) — In order to deepen its regulatory and compliance expertise, as well as broaden the level of support it provides to partner credit unions, Credit Union Student Choice, the foremost provider of higher education financing solutions to America’s credit unions, has hired student lending compliance expert Renee Buckner as Vice President of Regulatory Control and Compliance. Buckner started on March 23, 2015.
In this new role, Buckner will lead efforts in three key areas. First and foremost is to assist client credit unions with their own regulatory needs related to the Student Choice program, providing support to credit unions with their exams and internal audits. Secondly, Buckner will lead Student Choice’s own annual “review” with the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Finally, she will monitor, review, and implement changes as needed to meet ongoing regulatory and compliance changes.
According to Melissa Hunt, Student Choice’s Chief Operations Officer, this new role was created out of the necessity to bring sharpened focus to an extremely important area of the CUSO’s business, while also consolidating regulatory and compliance tasks to a specialized department.
“With compliance needs and regulatory issues part of our daily conversation, it was important for Student Choice to bring someone with Renee’s experience and vast network of legal and compliance resources to our team,” said Hunt. “We are very excited to welcome her and know she will have an immediate impact with our program, our client credit unions, the NCUA, and the regulatory issues we are vigilantly monitoring.”
In Buckner’s most recent role at Iowa Student Loans, she successfully led the corporate compliance program and was entrenched in not only student lending regulations, but fair lending laws, consumer protection laws, and legislation. Additionally, her membership in the Student Loan Servicing Alliance (SLSA), American Bankers Association (ABA), American Collectors Association (ACA), compliance steering committees and ongoing interaction with the CFPB have complemented her extensive experience in this field. Buckner holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Iowa, a MBA from the University of Iowa, and is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM).
“I am very excited and honored to be a part of Student Choice to monitor the dynamic regulatory and compliance environment in which we operate, and to directly assist our credit union clients,” said Buckner. “Coming from the student lending industry, I’ve seen firsthand the value that Student Choice and credit unions are bringing to students and families. I look forward to leveraging my experience and resources to help credit unions efficiently address regulatory hurdles, enabling them to fully serve their members.”
About Credit Union Student Choice
Credit Union Student Choice is a credit union service organization (CUSO) that positions credit unions as leaders in education finance by offering a comprehensive solution that helps them deliver fair‐value private education loans and corresponding financial education to students and families. For more information, visit www.studentchoice.org.