This is not a corporate or business statement. This is a personal statement.

I know Joseph Otting personally first.

I knew him when he was an executive at Union Bank, then U.S. Bank, and later at One West Bank, where he served as CEO. I had many private conversations, and meals with Joseph Otting, when no one was looking. He expressed care and concerns for others, in many of these conversations. He’s showed compassion and interest in those less fortunate than himself.  These conversations of compassion and care, also often included his wife, who shared his values and concerns.

He became CEO of a new bank (One West Bank) that had taken over a terrible institution (IndyMac Bank), and I witnessed the changes that he put in place. I know that some have concern about his tenure at OneWest Bank, but I cannot help but think that they were unaware of the mess that he inherited from IndyMac Bank — an institution, and its leadership, that genuinely did not care. The regulators asked for the OneWest group to take over this failing institution, and from where I sit — he made a bad situation better.

Joseph Otting is not perfect, but I trust him as a leader, and someone that genuinely cares.  I can work with Joseph Otting.

I support his nomination as our nation’s next U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.

John Hope Bryant, founder, Operation HOPE

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