Former U.S. Mint Director David J. Ryder, who served as the 34th chief executive of the nation’s coin producer, is President Trump’s intended nominee to become 39th director of the United States Mint.

President Trump announced Oct. 3 his intent to nominate Ryder for the same Treasury Department position he held more than two decades ago.

The nomination to a five-year term would require Senate approval.

The year coin collecting in the United States changed forever Also in this week’s print issue of Coin World, we cite the secret weapon for any modern coin researcher or collector interested in how coins are made.

The Mint has been without a director since Edmund C. Moy resigned in January 2011 to re-enter the private sector with almost eight months remaining on his presidentially appointed five year term.

Neither of the two nominations for Mint director made by former President Obama — first of Bibiana Boerio and the second of Matthew Rhett Jeppson — ever progressed to receive Senate approval.

Since 2007, Ryder has been global business development manager for Honeywell Authentication Technologies as a manufacturer and supplier of covert and forensic security features for the authentication of currency, value documents and products.

From January 1994 through 2007, Ryder served as president of Secure Products Corp., a producer of special machine readable materials that provided positive identification of currency, branded products, and other high value documents as genuine.

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Ryder, who served as deputy chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle before becoming deputy treasurer of the United States, was nominated by President George H.W. Bush on July 25, 1991, to succeed Donna Pope as Mint director.

Just under a year later, July 9, 1992, when the Senate had not acted upon Ryder’s nomination, Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady named him acting Mint director. 

Fifty-six days later, on Sept. 3, when the Congress was in recess, President Bush named Ryder Mint director under the seldom-used recess appointment. Under the recess appointment, without Senate confirmation, the term of office became fixed at the conclusion of the next session of Congress, which was interpreted to be the end of the first session of the 103rd Congress. 

Ryder’s term as Mint director ended at 3:07 p.m. Nov. 24, 1993, when the Senate adjourned its first session of the 103rd Congress without confirming his nomination.

Ryder was eventually succeeded by Philip N. Diehl who first served the Mint as executive deputy director, a position specially created by the Clinton administration with the intention to ease Diehl into the Mint director’s seat. Diehl currently serves as chairman of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets.