Nomination of Katherine D. Ortega To Be Treasurer of the United States

The President today announced his intention to nominate Katherine D. Ortega, of New Mexico, to be Treasurer of the United States. She would succeed Angela M. Buchanan.

Ms. Ortega is currently a Commissioner of the Copyright Royalty Tribunal, a position to which she was appointed on December 10, 1982. Previously Ms. Ortega served as a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business Ownership.

Before joining the Reagan administration, Ms. Ortega acquired extensive experience in the banking and savings and loan industries. She became the first woman to serve as a bank president in California, when she was elected president of the Santa Ana State Bank in 1975.

In 1977-1982 she was a consultant to Otero Savings and Loan Association in Alamagordo, N. Mex. In 1972-1975 she was vice president and cashier of the Pan American National Bank in Los Angeles. In 1969-1972 Ms. Ortega, who is a certified public accountant, was tax supervisor for Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in Los Angeles.

Ms. Ortega was the 1977 recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award from Eastern New Mexico University, where she received her B.A. in 1957. She has also received the California Businesswomen's Achievement Award and the Damas de Commercio Outstanding Woman of the Year Award in Los Angeles.

She was born in New Mexico on July 16, 1934, and currently resides in Washington, D.C.