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Obama nominates Valley native to GSA post
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama has nominated Carol Fortine Ochoa, who grew up in Boardman and Poland, as his nominee for inspector general of the General Services Administration.
The 1976 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before she can get the post.
“She is a consummate workhorse and a consummate professional,” said Mike Fortine of Canfield, her brother. “She never gives up. She’s a worker.”
Ochoa, 57, has spent the past 10 years as assistant inspector general in the IG’s oversight and review division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Before that, she spent three years as director of the oversight and review commission at the DOJ.
“The family is so proud of her,” Fortine said. “If anyone deserves a presidential nomination, it’s her.”
If confirmed, Ochoa would succeed Robert C. Erickson Jr., the acting inspector general for GSA.
The inspector general of the GSA is responsible for promoting economy, efficiency and effectiveness as well as detecting and preventing fraud, waste and mismanagement in the administration’s programs and operations, according to the GSA website.
Also, the IG performs independent financial, program, information technology, contract and compliance audits; criminal and civil investigations, reviews proposed legislation and regulations; and other services to senior GSA, congressional and law enforcement officials, according to the GSA website.
The GSA oversees the federal government’s real-estate and supply purchases.
Between 1989 and 2002, Ochoa was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in the fraud and public-corruption section, and was an associate independent council at the Office of Independent Counsel from 1987 to 1989. She started her legal career in 1983 as a law clerk for the chief judge of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Mississippi, followed by four years as an associate attorney at a private law firm.
Before graduating from Cardinal Mooney, Ochoa attended St. Charles School in Boardman. She was the St. Charles spelling-bee champion three times.
Ochoa earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics and political science in 1980 from Miami University in Oxford. She graduated in 1983 at the top of her class from the George Washington University National Law Center with a law degree.
Attempts Thursday by The Vindicator to contact Ochoa to comment on her presidential nomination were unsuccessful.
Ochoa is the second Mahoning County native nominated by Obama who needed Senate confirmation for appointment.
Former Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams became head of the Economic Development Administration in May 2014, six months after Obama nominated him for the position.