Lambright named to bailout post

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- James H. Lambright, head of the Export-Import Bank, Wednesday was named interim chief investment officer for the U.S. program to bail out the nation's banks.

The post had been expected to go to Undersecretary of State Reuben Jeffery. However, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided that given the upcoming leaders' meeting on global financial markets it would be better for Jeffery to remain at the State Department.

The Treasury Department said in a news release that Lambright will hold the post until it is filled on a permanent basis.

As the top investment official for the Troubled Asset Relief Program authorized by Congress this month, Lambright will counsel Paulson and Neel Kashkari, the interim assistant secretary for the Office of Financial Stability as they develop and implement the program.

Lambright has headed up the Export-Import Bank since July 2005, managing 400 employees and a $60 billion credit portfolio with $100 billion in financing capacity. He is credited with converting the Export-Import Bank to a self-financing agency that needed no congressional funding for fiscal 2008.

Earlier, he was with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.