Katherine D. Ortega
| Katherine Ortega | |
|---|---|
| 38th Treasurer of the United States | |
|
In office September 26, 1983 – July 1, 1989 |
|
| President |
Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Bay Buchanan |
| Succeeded by | Cathi Vásquez Villalpando |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 16, 1934 Tularosa, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Lloyd Derrickson |
| Signature |  |
Katherine Dávalos Ortega (born July 16, 1934) was the 38th Treasurer of the United States. She served from September 26, 1983 to July 1, 1989 under Presidents Ronald Reagan and then George H. W. Bush. Ortega also has the distinction of being the first female bank president in the state of California.
Ortega was born in Tularosa, New Mexico 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 State Bank in order to earn enough money for college. She attended Eastern New Mexico University 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. 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.
In 1968, Ortega moved to Los Angeles 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 founded in 1963 by Romana Acosta Bañuelos. 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 State Bank, the first woman chief executive of a bank in the state.
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