WASHINGTON — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Deputy Director Brian Johnson is leaving the agency to become a partner at Alston & Bird LLP next month.
Johnson, the No. 2 CFPB official, spent more than two years serving under both former acting Director Mick Mulvaney and current Director Kathy Kraninger.
Nanci Weissgold, who co-leads Alston & Bird’s consumer financial services team, said in a press release that the CFPB “continues to be a significant challenge” for the financial services industry and that Johnson’s experience at the agency will aid the firm’s clients.
“Brian brings an insider’s view of the CFPB and its relationships with the executive branch and Congress that will serve our clients well on matters ranging from regulatory and compliance issues and examinations to enforcement and related litigation,” Weissgold said.
Johnson was one of several political hires at the CFPB after Mulvaney took the helm at the agency in 2017. He previously served on the staff of the House Financial Services Committee for five years under former Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in various positions including senior counsel, chief financial institutions counsel, and policy director.
While with the House committee, Johnson helped conduct oversight of the CFPB. He also served an Ohio assistant attorney general, as a law clerk and as a staff assistant in the George W. Bush administration. He spent two years as a legislative correspondent for Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., after graduating from law school at the University of Virginia.
