Kirsten Sutton is Executive Vice President of Congressional Relations and Legislative Affairs at the American Bankers Association (ABA), the voice of the nation’s $23.7 trillion banking industry and its more than two million employees. Named by Association Trends as a leading association lobbyist, Sutton oversees the association’s bipartisan team responsible for engaging lawmakers and their staff on policy and legislative issues affecting America’s banks and the communities they serve.

Sutton joined ABA in 2020 as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of ABA’s Card Policy Council (CPC), where she developed policy priorities and advocacy strategy in collaboration with the nation’s largest card-issuing banks and payment networks.

Before joining ABA, Sutton served as Chief of Staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from 2018 to 2020. In addition to advising the CFPB Director on policy and personnel matters, Sutton managed the agency’s public affairs, communications, stakeholder engagement, and legislative affairs office.

Prior to her tenure at the CFPB, Sutton was staff director of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) where she served as primary staff liaison to the Administration and House and Senate leadership, developed the Committee’s legislative priorities, and was responsible for ensuring those priorities had the support needed to pass out of the Committee and on the House floor. Her career on Capitol Hill spans more than a decade, including the financial crisis and the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act.