Donegan Serves Final Day as DFR Commissioner Posted by Association of Vermont Credit Unions on 11:31 AM

Department of Financial Regulation Commissioner Susan Donegan worked her final day as Vermont's chief financial regulator on Thursday, June 30th.  The day's end was marked by a celebratory gathering of Department employees, Shumlin administration leaders, legislators and representatives of the financial sectors she has regulated.

Donegan has been DFR Commissioner since January of 2013, and was previously at the Department as its first director of securities regulation from 1985 to 1990, and again as Deputy Commissioner of the Insurance Division in 2011. She is an attorney with degrees from Vermont Law School, Boston University School of Law and Amsterdam Law School.

The Commissioner is appointed by the Governor and oversees 107 employees across 4 divisions (Banking, Insurance, Securities and Captive Insurance). Since this is an election year and Peter Shumlin is not seeking re-election, no new Commissioner is expected to be named until 2017. No interim Commissioner has been named by the Governor at this point. That means for state chartered credit unions that Deputy Commissioner Cynthia Stuart is their chief financial regulator for now. Stuart joined the Department in January of 2015, coming from a lengthy banking background in New Hampshire and Vermont.

AVCU President Joe Bergeron attended Donegan's farewell celebration for the Association. He commented that "In her time as Commissioner, Donegan has been up-front, open-minded and practiced an open-door policy when it comes to credit unions and financial services. We'll miss her leadership as Vermont's chief financial regulator, as well as her sense of humor, and wish her all the best in her next phase of life."