Just when the industry got closely acquainted with the primary regulator from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who oversees auto financing, word comes that the official is departing the agency.

Auto Remarketing received confirmation Wednesday that assistant director Rick Hackett intends to leave the bureau by the end of the month. The CFPB already has a posting on its website seeking applicants for Hackett’s replacement.

For the past two years, Hackett has been one of the more visible CFPB officials at industry events. Earlier this month during the NAF Association’s 17th annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference, Hackett participated in a question-and-answer session with Hudson Cook chairman Tom Hudson that served as the keynote portion of the event.

One of the largest contingents ever to attend the conference — more than 300 finance company executives, service providers and legal advisers — heard Hackett answer more than a dozen questions submitted in advance by the NAF Association. Topics ranged about the legality of dealer participation to what constitutes a compliant according to the CFPB.

Hackett said back on June 6, “The message is we try to give you the most accurate information as we can.”

Hackett also reached out to the industry during other events, too, such as the Consumer Bankers Association’s annual gathering and the Vehicle Finance Conference orchestrated by the American Financial Services Association.

“Nobody, and I mean nobody, could have done that job better than Rick did it,” said Hudson, who was on the dais with Hackett for nearly an hour during the NAF Association session, marking the second year in a row the two have collaborated to inform the industry about the CFPB’s intentions.

Hackett arrived at the CFPB in 2011 after being a founder of the banking and financial services group at Pierce Atwood in Maine.

Hackett’s department pushed out guidance in March concerning indirect auto lending. Auto Remarketing’s report about that development can be found here.

Since that time, Hudson has been part of an industry cohort attempting to educate the CFPB about the intricacies of auto financing and defending dealers and lenders from scrutiny over rate markups and more.

In fact, Hudson and Hackett share a relationship that dates back 30 years. During the NAF Association’s conference, Hudson joked about how he knew the name of Hackett’s dog and used it as an icebreaker before the complicated questions and answered that followed.

“That’s life in a regulated industry. People come and people go,” Hudson said. “Car industry folks will need to reintroduce themselves to the new person and start the educational and familiarization processes over again.”

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.