The NDTO is thrilled to announce that former EXIM Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg will be joining us at our annual Global Business Awards Luncheon on May 14 for a fireside chat.
About Fred Hochberg
Fred P. Hochberg is a seasoned business executive and government leader, who has navigated organizations through rough waters and brought them to new heights. He recently concluded eight years of service as Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), where he became the longest serving Chairman in the agency’s history and one of the highest-ranking LGBT Americans in any U.S. administration. Previously, he was Acting Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Dean of the Milano School at the New School. Before entering public service, Hochberg spent almost two decades leading his family’s direct marketing business, Lillian Vernon, where he oversaw a 40-fold increase in revenue.
Leadership through Times of Crisis at EXIM
Hochberg led EXIM through a period that included historic demand for its services in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and unprecedented political attacks from Congress. During his tenure, the agency supported more than 1.4 million American jobs and financed exports with a value exceeding $240 billion, while generating $3.8 billion in profits for U.S. taxpayers and reducing internal agency costs by 30 percent.
- Customer Focus: Improving customer service was a primary initiative of Hochberg’s tenure. He streamlined processes and cut transaction times so that 98 percent of transactions were processed within 100 days, even as he introduced innovative new financial products to better equip U.S. companies to win sales in an increasingly competitive global economy. These efforts were particularly focused on America’s small business exporters, which received 90 percent of EXIM authorizations.
- Pressing America’s Advantage: Hochberg also worked to expand the global footprint of key industries in which U.S. exporters have a comparative advantage, such as renewable, thermal and nuclear energy, aerospace and transportation technology, equipment for the mining and natural resource extraction industries, construction and farm machinery, infrastructure services, and agricultural commodities.
- Global Relationship-Building: Hochberg traveled to 45 countries to promote U.S. export sales, and nearly all 50 states to encourage small businesses to look beyond U.S. borders for their next customer.
Raising the Bar at the New School
From 2004 to 2008, Hochberg was dean of the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at the New School in New York City. Hochberg developed a core curriculum, bringing coherence and a shared experience to the school’s degree programs. He also raised the profile of the Milano School, bringing leaders from the business community, government and non-profit sectors to its campus. He also left Milano on a much firmer financial footing, established the Dean’s Alumni Council and pioneered an executive education program.
Asking More of the SBA
From 1998 to 2001, Hochberg served as Deputy, and then Acting Administrator of the SBA in the Clinton administration, where he quadrupled lending to minority- and woman-owned businesses and rapidly improved response times for American small business owners. He also expedited the agency’s adoption of more automated loan processing technology.
Growing a Family Business into a Household Name
Prior to his service at SBA, Hochberg was the long-time president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small, family-owned mail order company into an international, publicly traded direct marketing corporation. Leading the company for 18 years, Hochberg oversaw a nearly 40-fold increase in annual revenue, from $5 million in 1975 to $180 million in 1993.
A Focus on the Bottom Line from the Board Room
Hochberg is a past Board Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Citizens Budget Commission, and FINCA International Micro Finance. He was also an appointed representative to the New York State Financial Control Board.
Fighting for Equality
Throughout his career in business, academic and public service, Hochberg has been a champion of expanding LGBT rights and promoting LGBT leadership in all sectors of the economy. He served as a board member and later as co-chair of the Human Rights Campaign, and is the founder of the David Bohnett LGBT Leadership Fellows Scholarship at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Hochberg received his undergraduate degree from New York University and his MBA from Columbia University. Hochberg’s partner is writer Tom Healy.
You can learn more about Fred at his website.