The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has named its interim president and chief executive officer James Preston as its new president and CEO.

"When we began our search for a new CEO five months ago, we knew we could depend on Jim to provide a steady hand to help us manage PHEAA during the transition," said state Rep. William Adolph, R-Delaware, PHEAA board chairman, in a statement released Thursday.

"What was unknown to us at the time was the true extent of Jim's leadership abilities and management skills in dealing with the rapidly changing, market-driven forces that are reshaping the student aid industry today."

The student loan market nationwide has been hit by the subprime mortgage lending crisis and changing federal regulations.

Mr. Preston worked for 25 years in various investment banking positions at such places as L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, Bear Stearns and UBS PaineWebber in New York. In 2003, he became executive vice president of client relations and loan operations for PHEAA.

Mr. Preston replaces former president and CEO Dick Willey, who had planned to retire at the end of 2007 but was forced to resign in October after an audit showed a $79,000 staff retreat to Hersheypark.