FDIC Executive Secretary

Debra Buie Decker speaker at Mount Olive Church Sun.

By Loretta Cozart

The guest speaker for Mount Olive Church’s Homecoming Sunday is Debra Buie Decker, the great-granddaughter of Lim Castle, Jr., a runaway slave, and the oldest founder of Mount Olive Baptist Church. She is the granddaughter of Louie Castle Oates, a lifelong member of Mount Olive who was recognized by many during her senior years as “Mother of the Church.’’ She is the fifth cousin of Chancellor Lee Adams, a recent high school graduate, and the youngest member of the Castle family to join Mount Olive.

Washington, DC, appointed on April 25, 2022. Her office organizes and manages meetings of the Board of Directors and other committees established by the Board; she oversees the Corporation’s regulatory review process and keeps official agency records and archives. She also oversees the agency’s employee ethics and alternative dispute resolution programs. Before this role, she was special Counsel to several Deputy General Counsels, and Counselor in the United States for two successive presidents of the International Association of Deposit Insurers headquartered in Switzerland.

confirmed by the Senate.

determining which minister to call upon to organize the church. While under construction, members of the future church met at the home of Jerry, Sr.

In early March 1923, the Castle brothers laid the cornerstone of the new Mt. Olive Baptist Church, with this symbolic act, the dream of having their own church in their own community became a reality. Since 1923, 45 members of the Castle family - spanning six generations - have been church members.

She is the daughter of the late Catherine Oates Buie and the late Sampson Buie, Jr., formerly of Greensboro, NC. Her mother grew up in Mount Olive Church and was a public-school teacher for nearly 30 years. Her father served as Senior Pastor of Roberts Chapel Baptist Church in Goldston, NC, for 40 years, and Associate Pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC, for 50 years. He held various leadership roles in the State of North Carolina in administration, community service, and education.

A true public servant with over 30 years of federal government service, Decker is Assistant General Counsel and Executive Secretary of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in

Decker was promoted to Deputy Executive Secretary for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in Washington, D.C., effective March 1, 2020. She assumed that role at an unprecedented time in American history as COVID-19 escalated into a pandemic. This public health crisis triggered volatility in the nation’s financial system prompting emergency implementation of various federal economic stimulus programs, many supported by the FDIC.

In that role, Decker and her staff provided legal and logistical support for the FDIC’s Board of Directors and the standing and advisory committees established by the board. Each of the five board members Is appointed by the President of the United States and

In addition to planning and managing band committee meetings, and issuing board orders and decisions, Debra serves as the FDIC’s Federal Register Liaison for the publication of FDIC and interagency rules, policies, and requests for public information; the Corporation’s Court Docket Clerk; the FDIC’s Agent for Service of Process at Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; and under certain circumstances, Administrative Law Judge. She is the first African American woman to be appointed to this position in the 87-year history of the FDIC. She is an Elder and former Sunday School teacher at Olive Branch Community Church in Sandy Spring, MD. She is also an avid supporter of African and African American theatrical arts and culture, and Christ-centered financial services for families in underserved communities in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

She and her husband, D, Desmond Decker, reside in Bethesda, MD. They have two children. Their son, D. Desmond Decker II, lives in Silver Spring, MD. Their daughter, Sierra Leola Decker, is a graduate student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The Joy Performance Theater renovations continue in downtown Kings Mountain. Last week, facade work brought the marquee back after removing it the week prior. With the theater sporting appropriate period mid-century colors, this jewel will soon reclaim center stage in the downtown district. Appropriately, Liberty Mountain will be the first performance once renovations are completed. Photo by