Panel Endorses Casey to Chair RTC

A search committee on Monday recommended former American Airlines Chairman Albert V. Casey to head the Resolution Trust Corp., the government’s savings and loan bailout agency.

The panel, headed by Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, announced its choice in a statement, calling Casey “a seasoned manager with strong experience in the private and public sectors.”

Casey, 71, retired after 11 years as chief executive of American Airlines; in 1986, he served as postmaster general of the United States.

Last week, a member of the search committee had described Casey as the leading candidate to be the RTC chief executive, a new position.

The committee’s selection will have to be approved by a vote of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board, which runs day-to-day operations of the agency established in August, 1989, to clean up the savings and loan debacle.

Before he joined the airline, Casey served from 1963 until 1974 in various executive positions at Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Co., including president.

From 1986 until 1988, he taught in the school of business at Southern Methodist University.

From 1986 until 1989, Casey was chairman of First Republic Bank Corp., at regulators’ request, as the Dallas-based bank was heading toward failure.

The Treasury Department said Casey is expected to assume the RTC position in mid-October.

The term of L. William Seidman, chairman of the FDIC and RTC, expires Oct. 16.