A former auto executive with a background in design has been nominated by President Obama to be the next director of the United States Mint, an agency of the Treasury Department. If confirmed by the Senate—which is unlikely to act before December—Bibiana Boerio would succeed Edmund Moy, who left the post in December 2010. Since Moy’s resignation, Deputy Director Richard A. Peterson has shouldered the responsibilities of the director.

Born circa 1954 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Boerio graduated in 1971 from Greensburg Central Catholic High School in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She earned a BS (Hons) in Textiles and Design at Seton Hill College in 1975 and an MBA in Accounting and Finance at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Business in 1976.

Joining Ford Motor Company after graduating with her MBA, Boerio held a number of finance positions in the areas of product development, manufacturing, sales and corporate business planning, from 1976 to 1995. From August 1995 to September 2000, she served as the finance director for Jaguar Cars, Ltd., then a subsidiary of Ford. She also launched and served as the chair of Jaguar’s Women’s Product and Marketing Committee. Leaving Jaguar in 2000, Boerio worked as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Ford Motor Credit Co., LLC, from October 2000 to March 2003, and as director of finance and strategy for Ford Motor Company International Operations from 2003 to 2004. She returned to Jaguar in July 2004 to work as managing director, leaving for good in December 2007, when Ford was in the process of selling its interest in the British car maker to Tata Motors, which is based in Mumbai, India.

Retiring from Ford, Boerio transferred to the political realm, serving as chief of staff for Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) from February 2008 to January 2011. After Sestak left the House of Representatives in order to run, unsuccessfuly, for the Senate, Boerio was a special adviser to the Sandy Baruah, the president chief executive of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce from March 2011 to February 2012, with an emphasis on developing the MICHauto association in support of the auto industry. 

She served as a member of the board of directors for Vista Maria, a non-profit organization supporting high-risk girls in Dearborn, Michigan, and has served as the chair of the Coventry Business Group in support of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the United Kingdom.

A Democrat, Boerio has contributed $9,000 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2002, including $3,250 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $1,000 to the Democratic National Committee, $500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $2,000 to the 2006 Congressional campaign of former Admiral Joe Sestak, and $750 to the 2012 Wisconsin Senate campaign of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.

-Matt Bewig

Biography (Bloomberg Business Week)