Katherine Dávalos Ortega (born July 16, 1934) was the 38th Treasurer of the United States

Treasurer of the United States

The Treasurer of the United States is an official in the United States Department of the Treasury that was originally charged with the receipt and custody of government funds, though many of these functions have been taken over by different bureaus of the Department of the Treasury...

. She served from September 26, 1983 to July 1, 1989 in the Reagan Administration

Reagan Administration

The United States presidency of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Reagan administration, was a Republican administration headed by Ronald Reagan from January 20, 1981, to January 20, 1989....

. Ortega also has the distinction of being the first female bank president in the state of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Early life

Ortega was born in Tularosa, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 to Donaciano Ortega and Catarina Dávalos. She was one of nine children. Her family had originally come to New Mexico when the area still comprised a territory. Ortega's paternal grandfather arrived from Texas in the 1880s while on her mother's side, her great-grandfather Luciano had been one of the original settlers of Tularosa in 1862.

Ortega's father, a former Justice of the Peace in nearby Bent, opened a blacksmith shop in Tularosa in 1928. By the 1940s, he owned a small restaurant with a dance hall attached in which the entire family worked. Ortega began to work in the restaurant at age 10, operating the cash register. Originally, Ortega grew up speaking only Spanish. She later learned English when she entered the local elementary school.

As a teenager, Ortega worked as a teller at Otero County

Otero County, New Mexico

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*72.7% White*3.5% Black*6.7% Native American*1.2% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.2% Two or more races*11.2% Other races*34.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

 State Bank in order to earn enough money for college. She attended Eastern New Mexico University

Eastern New Mexico University

Eastern New Mexico University , frequently called Eastern, is a state university in Portales, Roosevelt County, New Mexico, USA...

 and graduated with honors in 1957 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business and Economics. Initially wanting to become a teacher, Ortega was dismayed by repeated instances of discrimination and, instead, opened a small accounting firm in Alamogordo with one of her sisters, a certified public accountant

Certified Public Accountant

Certified Public Accountant is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA...

. The family had already relocated to that town when her father moved the growing restaurant business there in the 1940s and opened a furniture store.

Banking career

In 1968, Ortega moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 where she became a CPA and joined the firm of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Company as a tax supervisor. She also worked as a cashier at Pan American National Bank, a financial institution originally founded in 1963 by Romana Acosta Bañuelos

Romana Acosta Bañuelos

Romana Acosta Bañuelos was the thirty-fourth Treasurer of the United States. Appointed by President Richard Nixon on September 20, 1971, she served from December 17, 1971 to February 14, 1974....

. Ortega became vice president of the bank in 1971 the same year that Bañuelos was sworn-in as U.S. Treasurer. Finally, in 1975, Ortega became president of Santa Ana

Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....

 State Bank, the first woman chief executive of a bank in the state.

Ortega returned to New Mexico in 1977 in order to help run the family accounting firm. Under her stewardship, the company grew into the Otero Savings and Loan Association and, by 1983, had assests of $20 million. During this time, Ortega garnered numerous academic and business accolades for her efforts.

Political appointments

Ortega was involved in Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 politics from an early age. "I was born a Republican," she has been quoted on several occasions. She often credited her father, a life-long Republican, with her decision to join the Party.

Ortega worked for Republicans at local and state levels initially as a type of low-key liaison to women and Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 groups in New Mexico. After her return to her home state, she became involved in the 1978 re-election campaign of Sen. Pete Domenici

Pete Domenici

Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici is an American Republican politician, who served six terms as a United States Senator from New Mexico, from 1973 to 2009, the longest tenure in the state's history....

. In time, the senator became something of a political benefactor.

In April 1982, Ortega was named to a 10-person Presidential Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business Ownership by President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

. In December, she was appointed one of five members and chair of the Copyright Royal Commission, a federal agency established in 1976 to set royalty fees for the cable television and music entertainment industries. In 1983, Sen. Domenici, by that time chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, put forth Ortega's name for the post of U.S. Treasurer. She was officially nominated by President Reagan on September 12 of that year.

U.S. Treasurer

Ortega was sworn in on October 3, 1983 (however, she is listed by the Treasury Department as having begun her term on September 26). She was the tenth woman and the second Hispanic to hold the office. At her swearing-in ceremony, three previous U.S. Treasurers attended: Francine Irving Neff

Francine Irving Neff

Francine Irving Neff was the 35th Treasurer of the United States, serving from June 21, 1974 to January 19, 1977...

, Bañuelos, and her immediate predecssor, Bay Buchanan.

While Treasurer, Ortega oversaw a $220 million budget, raised $40 million toward the restoration of the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

, and helped to design a new currency to aid in preventing counterfeiting. She also spearheaded the effort to have the West Point Bullion Depository

West Point Mint

The West Point Mint Facility was erected in 1937 near the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Originally it was called the West Point Bullion Depository. At one point it had the highest concentration of silver of any U.S. mint facility, and for 35 years produced circulating pennies...

 designated as an official United States Mint

United States Mint

The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...

.

Although soft-spoken in personal conversation, Ortega became known for her rhetorical speaking skills in public. "Her low-key authenticity works magic with an audience," one Treasury Department

United States Department of the Treasury

The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...

 official is quoted as saying. In 1984, she was chosen to be the keynote speaker at that year's Republican National Convention

1984 Republican National Convention

The 1984 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened on August 20 to August 23, 1984, at Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas, Texas. The convention nominated the incumbent Ronald Reagan of California for President of the United States and incumbent George H. W...

- the first Hispanic woman to deliver the lead speech at a national convention

United States presidential nominating convention

A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election...

. This was done in part to counter the selection of prominent New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 governor Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo

Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...

 at the Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 National Convention

1984 Democratic National Convention

The 1984 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select a candidate for the 1984 United States presidential election. At the convention Walter Mondale was nominated for President and Geraldine...

.

As the highest-ranking Hispanic (until the appointment of Lauro Cavazos

Lauro Cavazos

Lauro Fred Cavazos Jr. is a U.S. educator. He served as Secretary of Education, and was the first Hispanic to serve in the United States Cabinet....

 as Secretary of Education in 1988) and one of only a few high-profile women in the Administration combined with the largely ceremonial nature of the Treasurer's office, Ortega was one of the key personnel utilized by the White House in outreach to both the Hispanic community and women's organizations. In 1984 alone, she logged almost 60,000 miles in appearances before Republican and Hispanic groups.

In 1986, Ortega conducted a study that rejected the idea of changing the colors of $50 and $100 denomination bills in order to frustrate counterfeiters and drug lords with large amounts of such type of cash. This idea would later be partially incorporated into U.S. currency during subsequent administrations.

After Reagan left office, Ortega was retained by the George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

 administration and reappointed to her post on January 20, 1989. She retired from the office in July and returned to her family firm in New Mexico.

Post-Treasurer years

While Ortega returned to the private sector and business activities, she still maintained a low profile in political circles. In 1990, she was appointed by President Bush to serve as an Alternate Representative to the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 for the duration of his administration. She also worked in an advisory capacity for the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 and the non-profit organization, Executive Women in Government.

Ortega served on the Boards of a number of large corporations: Ralston-Purina, Rayonier

Rayonier

Rayonier , headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, is the fifth largest private land owner in the United States with over . In addition to its U.S. holdings, Rayonier also owns of land in New Zealand.-History:...

, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, and, since 1992, Kroger

Kroger

The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...

. She has also continued her efforts on behalf of women in business while working at Catalyst, a business and research advisory firm. Ortega has received honorary degrees from Kean University

Kean University

Kean University is a coeducational, public research university located in Union and Hillside, New Jersey, United States. Kean University serves its students in the liberal arts, the sciences, and the professions with a dedication to intellectual and cultural growth and is best known for its...

, Villanova University

Villanova University

Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...

, and her alma mater, Eastern New Mexico.

Sicpa investigation

Ortega's years as Treasurer came partially under scrutiny in 1992 when Sen. John Glenn

John Glenn

John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...

, then chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, investigated irregularities in the competitive bidding process used by the Treasury Department. Sen. Glenn's committee questioned the relationship between Robert J. Leuver, then director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is paper currency for the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve itself is...

, and Maurice Amon, president of Sicpa Industries of America

Optically Variable Ink

Optically variable ink is an anti-counterfeiting measure used on many major modern banknotes.The ink displays two distinct colors depending on the angle the bill is viewed at. The United States fifty-dollar bill, for example, uses color shifting ink for the numeral 50 so that it displays copper at...

- the sole provider of the ink used for U.S. currency since 1982. In particular, Sen. Glenn was concerned over gifts and other gratuities received by Leuver from Amon's company. One focus of the investigation was a business trip taken to the Far East by several government and business officials, including Ortega, Leuver, and Amon, in 1985. Ortega was not implicated in any wrongdoing and Leuver was also exonerated from any impropriety during the course of the investigation. The Department of Justice declined to investigate the matter due to insufficient evidence supporting the claims.

In 2002, Ortega's achievements from humble beginnings were recognized by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans

Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans

The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity and to emphasize the importance of higher education...

 when she received the organization's Horatio Alger Award.

Family life

Ortega has cited her family upbringing as her chief inspiration in life:

I am the product of a heritage that teaches strong family devotion, a commitment

to earning a livelihood by hard work, patience, determination and preseverance.

She has often singled out her father in particular, saying that "[he] taught me we were as good as anybody else, that we could accomplish anything we wanted..."

Ortega was married briefly when she returned to New Mexico in the late 1970s. In interviews, she has declined to elaborate on that part of her life, insisting only that she be referred to as "Mrs. Ortega." In 1989, she married Lloyd J. Derrickson, a former general counsel with Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...

and currently a board member with World Cell, a wireless communications consulting firm. She has no children.