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Rebeca Romero Rainey is president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), the leading advocacy organization exclusively representing community banks. She is one of the nation’s foremost advocates of the community banking industry, with a focus on regulatory reform for our country’s nearly 5,000 community banks. She has met with President Obama and President Trump to discuss issues that are top of mind for community banks.
A third-generation community banker born and raised in Taos, N.M., Romero Rainey is the former Chairman and CEO of Centinel Bank of Taos. Upon graduating from Wellesley College, she returned home to Taos with the dream of continuing her family’s business of running the town’s only local community bank.
Her broader service to the community banking industry began when she joined the board of the Independent Community Bankers of New Mexico, where she served as president in 2007-08. She entered the national stage by becoming active within ICBA and serving on several committees. Romero Rainey also played a key role in the formation of ICBA’s Minority Bank Council and served as its first chairman. Later she was nominated to become a member of ICBA’s Executive Committee, and in 2016, became ICBA chairman.
Romero Rainey has also served on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Advisory Committee on Community Banking and the Kansas City Federal Reserve Community Depository Institution Advisory Council. She has been featured on CSPAN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, Fox Business News, and has been named a top Washington lobbyist every year since 2018 by “The Hill” publication. Romero Rainey has testified before Congress, and delivered speeches before the Federal Reserve, OCC and FDIC.
Romero Rainey has a long history of community engagement and collaboration among community stakeholders. She is the co-founder of the Bridges Project for Education, a nonprofit focused on helping first-generation college students. She was also selected as Taos Citizen of the Year in 2009 and has been awarded the New Mexico Governor’s Award for outstanding women.
In addition to graduating from Wellesley College, Romero Rainey holds a degree from the Pacific Coast School of Banking.