Chair of the Federal Reserve
The chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the Federal Reserve, and is the active executive officer of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The chairman presides at meetings of the Board.[2]
| Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | |
|---|---|
Seal of the Board of Governors | |
Flag of the Federal Reserve System | |
| United States Federal Reserve System | |
| Style | Mr. Chairman |
| Member of | Board of Governors Open Market Committee |
| Reports to | United States Congress |
| Seat | Eccles Building Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer | President with Senate advice and consent |
| Term length | Four years, renewable (as Chair) 14 years, non-renewable (as Governor) |
| Constituting instrument | Federal Reserve Act |
| Formation | August 10, 1914 |
| First holder | Charles Sumner Hamlin |
| Deputy | Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve |
| Salary | Executive Schedule, Level I[1] |
| Website | federalreserve.gov |
The chairman serves a four-year term after being nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate; the officeholder serves concurrently as member of the Board of Governors. The chairman may serve multiple terms, pending a new nomination and confirmation at the end of each term, with William McChesney Martin as the longest serving chair from 1951 to 1970 and Alan Greenspan as a close second. The president may not have the legal authority to dismiss a chairman before the end of a term, although this assumption has never been tested in court.[3]
The current chairman is Jerome Powell, who was sworn in on February 5, 2018.[4][5] He was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump on November 2, 2017,[6] and later confirmed by the Senate. He was subsequently nominated to a second term by President Joe Biden, later confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on May 23, 2022.[7][8]
Appointment process edit
As stipulated by the Banking Act of 1935, the president may designate to serve as Chairman of the Board for four-year terms with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among the sitting governors.[2][9][10][11] The Senate Committee responsible for vetting a Federal Reserve chair nominee is the Senate Committee on Banking.
Duties of the Fed chairman edit
By law, at meetings of the Board the chairman shall preside, and, in his absence, the vice chairman shall preside. In the absence of the chairman and the vice chairman, the Board shall elect a member to act as chairman pro tempore.[12]
Under the chairman's leadership, the Board's responsibilities include analysis of domestic and international financial and economic developments. The board also supervises and regulates the Federal Reserve Banks, exercises responsibility in the nation's payments system, and administers consumer credit protection laws.[13]
One of the chairman's most important duties is to serve as the chair of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is critical in setting short-term U.S. monetary policy.
By law, the chairman reports twice a year to Congress on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy objectives. He or she also testifies before Congress on numerous other financial issues and meets periodically with the treasury secretary, who is a member of the president's Cabinet.[14]
Conflict of interest law edit
The law applicable to the chair and all other members of the board provides (in part):
No member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall be an officer or director of any bank, banking institution, trust company, or Federal Reserve bank or hold stock in any bank, banking institution, or trust company; and before entering upon his duties as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System he shall certify under oath that he has complied with this requirement, and such certification shall be filed with the secretary of the Board.[15]
Salary edit
Chair of the Federal Reserve is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule,[1] thus earning the salary prescribed for that level (US$246,400, as of April 2024).[16]
List of Fed chairs edit
The following is a list of past and present chairs of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. A chair serves for a four-year term after appointment, but may be reappointed for several consecutive four-year terms. Since the Federal Reserve was established in 1914, the following people have served as chair.[a][17]
| # | Portrait | Name (birth–death) | Term of office[b] | Tenure length | Appointed by[c] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start of term | End of term | |||||
| - | William Gibbs McAdoo (1863–1941) | December 23, 1913 | August 10, 1914 | 230 days | ex officio[d] | |
| 1 | Charles Hamlin (1861–1938) | August 10, 1914 | August 9, 1916 | 1 year, 365 days | Woodrow Wilson | |
| 2 | William Harding (1864–1930) | August 10, 1916 | August 9, 1922 | 5 years, 364 days | ||
| 3 | Daniel Crissinger (1860–1942) | May 1, 1923 | September 15, 1927 | 4 years, 137 days | Warren G. Harding | |
| 4 | Roy Young (1882–1960) | October 4, 1927 | August 31, 1930 | 2 years, 331 days | Calvin Coolidge | |
| 5 | Eugene Meyer (1875–1959) | September 16, 1930 | May 10, 1933 | 2 years, 236 days | Herbert Hoover | |
| 6 | Eugene Black (1873–1934) | May 19, 1933 | August 15, 1934 | 1 year, 88 days | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
| 7 | Marriner Eccles (1890–1977) | November 15, 1934 | January 31, 1948[e] | 13 years, 77 days | ||
| 8 | Thomas McCabe (1893–1982) | April 15, 1948 | March 31, 1951 | 2 years, 350 days | Harry S. Truman | |
| 9 | Bill Martin (1906–1998) | April 2, 1951 | January 31, 1970 | 18 years, 304 days | Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson | |
| 10 | Arthur Burns (1904–1987) | February 1, 1970 | January 31, 1978[f] | 7 years, 364 days | Richard Nixon | |
| 11 | William Miller (1925–2006) | March 8, 1978 | August 6, 1979 | 1 year, 151 days | Jimmy Carter | |
| 12 | Paul Volcker (1927–2019) | August 6, 1979 | August 11, 1987 | 8 years, 5 days | Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan | |
| 13 | Alan Greenspan (born 1926) | August 11, 1987[g] | January 31, 2006 | 18 years, 173 days | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush | |
| 14 | Ben Bernanke (born 1953) | February 1, 2006 | January 31, 2014 | 7 years, 364 days | George W. Bush Barack Obama | |
| 15 | Janet Yellen (born 1946) | February 3, 2014 | February 3, 2018 | 4 years, 0 days | Barack Obama | |
| 16 | Jay Powell (born 1953) | February 5, 2018[h] | Incumbent | 6 years, 64 days | Donald Trump Joe Biden | |
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ The position was established as Governor of the Federal Reserve Board on December 23, 1913; thereafter became Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on August 23, 1935; and re-aligned to be gender-neutral after Yellen became the first female officeholder on February 3, 2014.
- ^ The start date given here for each officeholder is the day they took the oath of office, and the end date is the day of their term expiration, resignation, or retirement.
- ^ A fixed term with reappointment for the Chair, then known as Governor, was not added to the Federal Reserve Act until the Banking Act of 1935 (P.L. 74-305, 49 Stat. 684).
- ^ Upon enactment of the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913, the United States secretary of the treasury became ex officio chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and a member of the Reserve Bank Organization Committee (RBOC); all appointed officeholders, from William Gibbs McAdoo to Henry Morgenthau Jr., concurrently served in the position until the Banking Act of 1935 was signed into law on Aug. 23, 1935, which became effective on Feb. 1, 1936. That legislation ceased ex-officio membership, and the active executive officer (previously called the governor of the Federal Reserve Board) became the chairman of the Board of Governors. For purposes of this list, the governor has been perceived as the head of the Federal Reserve System since the establishment of that position on August 10, 1914, because the treasury secretary is a political appointee who can be dismissed by the president of the United States at any time and the Federal Reserve was created as an independent within the government agency.
- ^ Served as chairman pro tempore from February 3 to April 15, 1948.
- ^ Served as chairman pro tempore from February 1 to March 8, 1978.
- ^ Served as chairman pro tempore from March 3 to June 20, 1996, while awaiting confirmation by the United States Senate for his third term as chairman.
- ^ Served as chair pro tempore from February 5 to May 23, 2022, while awaiting confirmation by the United States Senate for his second term as chair.
References edit
- ^ a b 5 U.S.C. § 5312
- ^ a b see 12 U.S.C. § 242
- ^ . Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
- ^ "Jerome H. Powell sworn in as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
- ^ Cox, Jeff (February 5, 2018). "Jerome Powell takes the reins at the Fed amid market sell-off, jump in yields". CNBC. from the original on February 5, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ^ Gensler, Lauren (November 2, 2017). "Trump Taps Jerome Powell As Next Fed Chair In Call For Continuity". Forbes. from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
- ^ "Jerome H. Powell sworn in for second term as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
- ^ . Reuters. May 23, 2022. Archived from the original on September 2, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "The Fed - Board Members". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. February 21, 2018. from the original on March 18, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
- ^ "The Structure of the Federal Reserve System". Federalreserve.gov. from the original on April 23, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
- ^ Federal Reserve (January 16, 2009). . Federal Reserve. Archived from the original on January 17, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
- ^ see 12 U.S.C. § 244
- ^ . www.federalreserveeducation.org. February 21, 2019. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
- ^ "Chair of the Federal Reserve Board". www.stlouisfed.org. February 12, 2019. from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
- ^ 12 U.S.C. § 244
- ^ "Rates of Basic Pay for the Executive Schedule" (PDF). OPM. January 1, 2022. (PDF) from the original on May 8, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ "Chairs". Membership of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1914–present. The Federal Reserve Board. February 5, 2018. from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
Further reading edit
- "Executive Order 11110 - Amendment of Executive Order No. 10289 as Amended, Relating to the Performance of Certain Functions Affecting the Department of the Treasury". The American Presidency Project. June 4, 1963 – via UCSB.edu.
- Andrews, Edmund L. (November 5, 2005). "All for a more open Fed". New Straits Times. p. 21.
- Beckhart, Benjamin Haggott. 1972. Federal Reserve System. [New York]: American Institute of Banking.
- Shull, Bernard. 2005. The fourth branch: the Federal Reserve's unlikely rise to power and influence. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
External links edit
- Official website
- Public Statements of the Chairs of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, via the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank
- Nomination hearings, conducted in the Senate, for Chairs and Members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Timeline of Federal Reserve Chairs with related resources