Small Business Administrator Steve Preston has been chosen by President Bush to serve as the replacement for Alphonso Jackson, outgoing secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to an AP report.
The next step is for Preston's appointment to be confirmed by the Senate. Meanwhile, ‘Jackson leaves behind the wreckage of a national housing crisis and a trail of unanswered questions about whether he tilted the Housing and Urban Development Department toward Republican contractors and cronies,’ the article notes.
Preston brings to the position 25 years of experience in financial and operational leadership positions, including executive vice president of The ServiceMaster Co., where he also served as chief financial officer. He has worked as a senior vice president and treasurer of First Data Corp. and as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers. Preston was sworn in as head of the Small Business Administration in July 2006.