Vern McKinley is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. From 1985 to 1999 Mr. McKinley worked with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Resolution Trust Corporation and Department of the Treasurys Office of Thrift Supervision. In 1995, McKinley graduated with honors from George Washington University School of Law.
Since 1999, McKinley has served as a legal advisor and regulatory policy expert for governments on financial sector issues in the U.S., China, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Philippines, Yugoslavia (now Montenegro), Kenya, Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Armenia, Kosovo, and Tajikistan. McKinley has completed policy work for both the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute and has served as an Alumni Council member of The Fund for American Studies.
McKinley has been credited with correctly predicting in 1997 that the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would one day lead to the meltdown of the two institutions. He has brought four Freedom of Information Act (United States) suits against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and Federal Housing Finance Agency to compel release of details on the bailouts, represented in the cases by Judicial Watch. McKinley has also testified before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law on issues related to U.S. consumer bankruptcy policy.