Campaign News

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker, one of the Fed system’s most outspoken advocates for higher short-term interest rates in recent years, will retire Oct. 1 after 28 years at the bank, the regional Fed bank said Tuesday.

The Richmond Fed’s board of directors has formed a search committee led by Chairwoman Margaret Lewis to find a new president, and has hired the firm of Heidrick & Struggles to assist in the search, the bank said. The bank intends to conduct “a nationwide search to identify a broad, diverse and highly qualified candidate pool for this leadership role,” it said.

Mr. Lacker became the second Fed official to announce his plans to retire in 2017. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart will step down at the end of February.

“Jeff has been an outstanding leader for the Richmond Fed and has made many contributions to the Federal Reserve System,” Ms. Lewis said in a statement announcing his departure.

A Richmond Fed spokesman said Mr. Lacker wants to return to teaching, writing and academic research, though he had no details on where Mr. Lacker may go after he leaves the bank later this year.

Mr. Lacker joined the Richmond Fed in 1989 and served in various leadership positions before becoming president in August 2004. For the past decade he has anchored the Fed’s hawkish wing, warning of the risks of rising inflation and dissenting often in favor of a higher benchmark federal-funds rate, which officials held near zero for six years following the financial crisis.

He was a voting member of the Fed’s policy committee in 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015, and dissented a total of 15 times out of 32 meetings.

Mr. Lacker also argued against the Fed’s interventions in financial markets throughout the financial crisis, and has said financial instability was worsened by expectations that the Fed would always provide a backstop for financial firms in trouble.

Over the past year, he has also argued against efforts to overhaul the Fed system, including measures that would subject the Fed’s interest-rate decisions to greater congressional scrutiny or tie its policy to a mathematical formula.

“I’m hoping that our leaders in Congress and the administration understand that our independence is of value and is important to the credibility of the country’s commitment to price stability and I hope they’re willing to proceed accordingly,” he said after the November presidential election.

Mr. Lacker said in a statement Tuesday he felt fortunate “to have participated in some of the most extraordinary policy deliberations in our nation’s history. It’s been my deepest privilege to lead the Richmond Fed and the dedicated people who work here.”

The search to replace Mr. Lacker is likely to face scrutiny from activists and congressional Democrats who have called for more diversity among the Fed’s upper ranks, as well as more openness about how it selects its regional bank leaders.

Following Mr. Lockhart’s announcement last year, the left-leaning Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up campaign said it hoped the next Atlanta Fed president would be black or Hispanic, which would be a first for a regional Fed bank.

In an unusual move, a group of African-American House members wrote to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and the chairman of the Atlanta Fed’s board urging them to consider candidates of diverse racial, ethnic, gender and professional backgrounds. The lawmakers also noted that most of the presidents worked at major financial firms before their appointments.

“We hope that candidates from distinctive sectors like academia, labor, and nonprofit organizations are given due consideration,” they wrote.

Before joining the Richmond Fed, Mr. Lacker was an assistant professor of economics at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University and previously worked at Wharton Econometrics in Philadelphia, the bank said.

The bank posted information about its search process on its website Tuesday.

By Kate Davidson

Source

07.18.2018

Despite Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell's stated commitment to improving diversity among the Federal Reserve's leadership, recent selections of Federal Reserve Bank presidents have continued to result in the elevation of white, male Fed insiders. Each time that a vacancy emerges at a Reserve Bank, the Fed Up coalition advocates for a transparent and publicly inclusive process that includes the consideration of candidates from diverse backgrounds. Richmond Fed Chair Margaret Lewis, who oversaw the process for choosing Thomas Barkin as Richmond Fed president, never reached out to our coalition for candidates, yet she reportedly told the Fed's Board of Governors that her efforts to find a diverse pool had "minimal direct results." After the New York Fed board's selection of John Williams as its next president sparked a "backlash," a source close to the process told Politico that the board could not identify qualified, diverse candidates who would take the job, even though Fed Up provided the board with a list months earlier. In June, the Fed Up coalition met with members of the San Francisco Fed search committee to advise their search for the next San Francisco Fed president. Here are five qualified and diverse candidates we provided to them.

 

Candidates for San Francisco Fed President

Marie Mora has been serving as Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). She is also a Board of Governors’ appointee on the Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas San Antonio Branch; Director and Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded American Economic Association’s Mentoring Program; a former member of the Data Users Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and a founding member and former President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists. Dr. Mora – a labor economist – has been invited to share her research expertise on Hispanic/Latino labor market outcomes at institutions and agencies across the country, including the White House, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Along with numerous journal articles and book chapters, her publications include the recently released Population, Migration, and Socioeconomic Outcomes among Island and Mainland Puerto Ricans: La Crisis Boricua, and three co-edited volumes. Dr. Mora’s recent national honors include the 2017 Inspiring Leaders in STEM Award (INSIGHT into Diversity); the 2016 Outstanding Support for Hispanic Issues in Higher Education Award (American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education); the 2015 Cesar Estrada Chavez Award (American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity); and the 2015 Distinguished Alumnus award (Department of Economics, University of New Mexico). She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Texas A&M University, and B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the University of New Mexico.

William Spriggs serves as Chief Economist to the AFL-CIO, and is a professor in, and former Chair of, the Department of Economics at Howard University. Bill assumed these roles in August 2012 after leaving the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. Bill was appointed by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, in 2009 to serve as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy at the United States Department of Labor, taking a leave of absence from Howard University to do so. At the time of his appointment, he also served as chairman for the Healthcare Trust for UAW Retirees of the Ford Motor Company and as chairman of the UAW Retirees of the Dana Corporation Health and Welfare Trust; and on the joint National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Public Administration's Committee on the Fiscal Future for the United States; and, as Senior Fellow of the Community Service Society of New York. Bill's previous work experience includes roles leading economic policy development and research at the Economic Policy Institute, the National Urban League, positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and the independent federal National Commission for Employment Policy. While working on his PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Bill began his labor career as co-president of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 3220 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Luis Antonio Ubiñas has served as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Pan American Development Foundation since May 2015. Mr. Ubiñas served as the President of Ford Foundation since January 2008 until September 2013. Mr. Ubiñas led McKinsey's Media Practice on the West Coast of the United States, advising Fortune 100 media, telecommunications and technology companies on major strategic and operating challenges for 18 years. While at McKinsey, Mr. Ubiñas led research on the impact of new technologies on business and society, worked with traditional media companies responding to the effects of new media and with emerging technology companies on the introduction of new media services. He has a distinguished record of leadership in the nonprofit sector, devoting much of his personal time and energy to working with nonprofits to accomplish their missions. He has advised senior management and served on the boards of Leadership Education and Development (LEAD), a national organization providing educational opportunities to low-income African-American and Latino high school students and the Bay Area United Way. He has been an Independent Director of Electronic Arts Inc. since November 9, 2010 and has been its Lead Director since August 27, 2015. He has been Independent Director of Commerce Technologies Inc. since July 22, 2016. He serves as a Director of The Steppingstone Foundation. He served as a Director at Valassis Communications Inc. from November 26, 2012 to February 2014. Mr. Ubiñas served as Director of McKinsey & Company, where he worked for 18 years. He serves on several boards and advisory committees, including the World Bank Advisory Council of Global Foundation Leaders and the UN Permanent Advisory Memorial Committee. Mr. Ubiñas has been a Member of Advisory Committee at Export-Import Bank of the United States since December 2013. He has been nominated by President on the U.S. Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiation. Mr. Ubiñas earned an AB degree (magna cum laude in Government) at Harvard College where, among other honors, he was named a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a John Winthrop Scholar. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. As an undergraduate, he also studied at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and earned a certificate in Latin American Studies from Harvard. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar.

Manuel Pastor is Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at USC and USC's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII). Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC. Pastor’s research has generally focused on issues of the economic, environmental and social conditions facing low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities. Pastor's recent book, Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas, co-authored with Chris Benner (UC Press 2015), argues how inequality stunts economic growth and how bringing together equity and growth requires concerted local action. His previous volumes include: Just Growth: Inclusion and Prosperity in America’s Metropolitan Regions, co-authored with Chris Benner (Routledge 2012), advances the idea that growth and equity can and should be linked, offering a new path for a U.S. economy seeking to recover from economic crisis and distributional distress; Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future (W.W. Norton 2010; co-authored with Angela Glover Blackwell and Stewart Kwoh),  documents the gap between progress in racial attitudes and racial realities and offers a new set of strategies for both talking about race and achieving racial equity. Pastor was the founding director of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has received fellowships from the Danforth, Guggenheim, and Kellogg foundations, and grants from the Irvine Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the W.T. Grant Foundation, The California Endowment, the California Air Resources Board, and many others. 

Anat Admati is a Stanford University economist with expertise in financial economics, including financial markets, banking, corporate finance, and corporate governance. She has been deeply immersed in policy issues, particularly around banking, for more than ten years, engaging experts from an array of perspectives and ideological backgrounds. She has a thorough knowledge of the power of markets to advance the economy, but also their limitations, and the great opportunity of policymakers and central bankers to shape the economy and to enable markets to better function and reduce distortions. The author of several books, including “The Banker’s New Clothes,” Admati has a great appreciation of the critical importance of a healthy and stable banking system to the economy.

 

A U.S. central banker on Wednesday pledged to devote more resources to addressing economic disparities between black and white Americans, saying the high rate of unemployment among African Americans is "really troubling."

"I do think some of the racial disparities are a crisis and we need to treat them like a crisis," Neel Kashkari, chief of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said after meeting with members of the Minneapolis black community and Fed Up, a network of community organizations and labor unions calling for changes to the U.S. central bank.

Kashkari, a former Republican candidate for California governor, is the son of Indian immigrants and the only one of 17 Fed policy-makers nationwide who is not white.

Unemployment among black Americans, for example, is typically twice that for whites, Kashkari noted. Educational disparity may be one factor, but more research is needed to identify causes, he said.

"We need to understand the 'why?' before we can design potential solutions," Kashkari said. "You don’t tackle a crisis with incremental solutions ... We need to bring overwhelming force to try to address this."

At the same time, Kashkari suggested the solutions are likely to go beyond the powers of the Fed, with lawmakers and local politicians likely in a better position to craft meaningful solutions.

The Fed, he said, has only the tool of interest rates at its disposal. As long as inflation remains low, he said, the Fed can keep rates low to boost job prospects for all Americans. But, he said, there is little the Fed can do to address structural problems in the economy besides contribute to research.

Regional Fed bank presidents often meet with members of their communities but only rarely are those meetings publicized.

Wednesday's meeting and press conference afterward was livestreamed by Minneapolis-based media collective Unicorn Riot from the offices of Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, which hosted the event at which several community members aired their experiences with low pay, long hours and homelessness.

Kashkari promised to spend a day with one of the participants to better understand the challenges she faces.

He also promised to meet with community activists again this month on the sidelines of an annual meeting of global central bankers in a national park near the well-heeled town of Jackson, Wyoming, and to collaborate on research.

"My job is to be your voice," he said.

By KRISTOFFER TIGUE

Source

April 16, 2018

 

Alexander R. Mehran

Chair of the Board

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

 

Dear Mr. Mehran:

We are writing to offer you our view about the urgency of appointing an individual who deeply understands the economic realities facing working class Americans to serve as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

For all of the dynamism and strength of the US economy, it has come to be characterized most fundamentally by enormous disparities in wealth, income and opportunity that strongly correlate to race, ethnicity and geography. Failing to address significant disparities in income and net worth between major segments of our population, and particularly in segments that are driving our nation’s demographic growth, will result in a less globally competitive US economy. This is a significant economic risk for the 12th District and the United States.

The San Francisco Fed will be strengthened by having a President whose experience and expertise better reflect the large segments of our population that are not proportionally experiencing the benefits of our economy. Ensuring that this expertise and perspective is represented within the Fed is a critical way to prepare for the challenges and opportunities in our economic future. This will require considering candidates with more diverse experience including in the fields of community development and philanthropy. We submit that the San Francisco Fed has a historic opportunity to name the first Hispanic, East Asian American or Pacific Islander President of a Federal Reserve Bank.

We applaud Chairman Powell's insightful comments on the necessity for diversity in Federal Reserve System and the larger economics profession. In his testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on November 28th, 2017, he stated, “We make better decisions when we have diverse voices around the table—both at the Board of Governors and at the Reserve Banks…We’ve seen what works. It’s about recruiting. It’s about going out of your way. It’s about bringing people in. Once they’re in, it’s about giving them paths for success. And it’s about having an overall culture and company that is very focused on diversity and sticks with that focus for a long period of time. That works.” This recognition must be coupled with bold leadership and action.

In order to decide the course of monetary policy through an informed assessment of different regional economic conditions from diverse points of view, the Federal Reserve System was designed to be decentralized, independent and include representatives of the public in its governance. The Fed’s mission is undermined when regional Reserve Banks fail to recruit leaders who live up to the mandate to “represent the public.” Selections that fail to allow meaningful opportunities for public input and engagement have tended to result in the elevation of Fed insiders. This insularity undermines the Fed’s public credibility and increases the likelihood that Congress will ultimately intervene to reform the process. The process for selecting the President of the New York Fed perpetuated the status quo. We urge the San Francisco Fed to avoid the same mistake. As a first step, we call on the San Francisco Fed to include the Chair of its own Community Advisory Board in the official selection committee for the next President.

Please accept this letter as an offer of support. We will do anything we can to help identify strong candidates as well as to publicly support actions that the San Francisco Fed takes to ensure progress on diversifying its Board of Directors and executive leadership.

Thank you for your service to the 12th District and our nation.

Respectfully submitted,

California Reinvestment Coalition Center for Popular Democracy Chicanos Por La Causa Community Council of Idaho Greenlining Institute NALCAB – National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development TELACU

cc: Jerome Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Lael Brainard, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Randal Quarles, Vice Chairman for Supervision, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

 

San Francisco Fed Board Chair Alexander Mehran's April 20 Response to Coalition Outreach re: Collaboration Surrounding San Francisco Fed Presidential Appointment

April 20, 2018

Noel Poyo  Executive Director  National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders 5404 Wurzbach Rd.  San Antonio, TX 78238    Dear Mr. Poyo:    Thank you for your letter of April 16, 2018, concerning the appointment of the next President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. We appreciate your taking the time to reach out and share your perspectives on this important undertaking. As Chair of the Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, I know that I speak for all of my board colleagues in saying that the appointment of a Federal Reserve Bank President is among our most important responsibilities and one that we take very seriously.    We share your desire to find a qualified candidate to fill this important role that understands and is able to represent the varied needs and interests of the richly diverse people and business communities throughout the Twelfth District. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has a legacy of success with regard to recruiting, developing and promoting women and minorities into leadership positions within its senior ranks. As you are well aware, Janet Yellen served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank from 2004 to 2010 before going on to become Vice Chair and later Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Under President Williams' leadership, the Bank continued to strengthen its focus on diversity and inclusion at all employee levels but particularly an10ng its leadership ranks where women now occupy over 30 percent and minorities over 45 percent of senior­level roles. In addition, President Williams established the Bank's Community Advisory Council in 2017 to give even stronger voice to those representing the district's underserved communities and to contribute to his ongoing economic analyses and monetary policy views.    The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has set a high bar for its executive leadership that we fully intend to uphold. Our board has not yet publicly communicated about the selection committee, job specifications or the processes that we will undertake to gather a list of qualified candidates for this important role. We expect to do so in the near future and will keep you apprised of our progress. For now, please know that we are absolutely committed to gathering input from various community and business leaders like you and your colleagues regarding the appointment of the next President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.    While I appreciate your suggestion to include Mr. Matsubayashi, who chairs the Bank's Community Advisory Council, as part of the official selection committee, the Federal Reserve Act stipulates that only the Class B and Class C directors (those not affiliated with banks or financial institutions) are eligible to participate in the appointment process. As such, Mr. Matsubayashi is unable to serve in this capacity. However, we recognize that he is doing an outstanding job leading the Community Advisory Council, and we would greatly value his input and suggestions, as well as input from you and your colleagues, regarding qualified candidates for this important role.    I wish to thank you once again for reaching out and offering your support of this important undertaking. We look forward to continuing this open, constructive dialogue, and with your support, doing all that we can to find the absolute best person from a diverse candidate pool to lead the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.    Sincerely,  Alexander R. Mehran Chair of the Board Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Federal Reserve Agent   cc: Danielle Beavers, Diversity and Inclusion Director, The Greenlining Institute  David Adame, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chicanos Por La Causa  Irma Morin, Chief Executive Officer, Community Council of Idaho  Jerome Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve  Jordan Haedtler, Campaign Manager, Fed Up, Center for Popular Democracy  Jose Villalobos, Senior Vice President, TELACU  Lael Brainard, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve  Orson Aguilar, President, The Greenlining Institute  Paulina Gonzalez, Executive Director, California Reinvestment Coalition  Randal Quarles, Vice Chairman for Supervision, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Seema Agnani, Executive Director, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development      Coalition's Response to Chair Mehran's Letter

May 4, 2018

Alexander R. Mehran Chair of the Board Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Dear Mr. Mehran:

Thank you for your letter dated April 20 and for your commitment to finding a San Francisco Fed president who “understands and is able to represent the varied needs and interests of the richly diverse people and business communities throughout the Twelfth district.”

We  appreciate  that  the  San  Francisco  Federal  Reserve  Bank  has  shown  its  commitment  to  public representation by strengthening diversity among Reserve Bank staff.  Unfortunately, that commitment has not extended to the position of President. Similarly, diversity and public representation on the San Francisco   Fed’s   governing   board   remains   lacking.   The  Twelfth   District  is   one  of   the  most demographically  diverse  districts  in  the  country,  yet  a  recent  analysis  by  the  Center  for  Popular Democracy found that the San Francisco Fed’s board of directors is the least diverse in the Federal Reserve System.

Your letter indicated that it would not be possible to include a Community Advisory Council member on the search committee because “only the Class B and C directors (those not affiliated with banks or financial institutions) are eligible to participate in the appointment process.” We would like to clarify our   request   regarding   Mr.   Matsubayashi’s   inclusion.      Following   established   precedent,   Mr. Matsubayashi can play a critical advisory role on the search committee by suggesting, interviewing, and advising on candidates under consideration. We are not suggesting or expecting that he would have final decision-making authority over which candidate is ultimately chosen.

The Federal Reserve Act clearly designates Class B and C directors as the final arbiters of who serves as president of each Reserve Bank.  We do not agree that inclusion of a member of the public on the search  committee would  in  any  way  violate the  law.  We have consulted  with  legal experts  on  the Federal Reserve Act, and they concur. Whenever a regional Reserve Bank encounters a presidential vacancy, it is customary to hire an executive search firm to identify and vet candidates who can fill that vacancy. We posit that employees of those executive search firms are participating in the search process. In 2014, outgoing Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher solicited the participation of non-Class B/C directors when he reportedly convened an advisory committee consisting of former Dallas Fed chairmen to help choose his successor.2  Freedom of Information Act requests have also revealed that members  of  the  Board  of  Governors  have  occasionally  suggested  candidates  to  fill  Reserve  Bank presidential  vacancies,  thereby  going  beyond  the  final  approval  role  that  the  Federal  Reserve  Act prescribes  for  governors.  We  fail  to  see  how  the  inclusion  of  Mr.  Matsubayashi  on  the  search committee in an advisory capacity is distinguished from these other examples of involvement by non- Class B and C directors in recent Reserve Bank presidential selections.

In your letter of April 20th, you identified the establishment of the Community Advisory Council as an important step toward giving an “even stronger voice to those representing underserved communities,” in the District.  The Council includes individuals selected by the San Francisco Fed itself as credible representatives  of  diverse  communities.    If  the  San  Francisco  Fed  is  unwilling  to  find  a  way  to meaningfully include a leading member of that advisory council in the selection process for the next President, it is difficult to understand how underserved communities are truly gaining a stronger voice.

It is also difficult to be assured that people of color will be given due consideration for the position of President when communities of color and other important segments of the District’s population are not adequately reflected in the selection process. Despite clear calls for consideration of diverse candidates from members  of  Congress  and  the public,  the  last  two  Reserve Bank  presidential vacancies  have resulted in the selection of white, male, longtime Fed insiders.  Including the Chair of the San Francisco Fed’s Community Advisory Council on the search committee in San Francisco is an essential step to maintain the credibility of the selection process for the next President of the San Francisco Fed.

In light of this clarification, we respectfully request that you consider including the Chair of the San Francisco Fed’s Community Advisory Council in the search process in a manner consistent with the Federal Reserve Act.  If the San Francisco Fed chooses not to accept this recommendation, we would appreciate an explanation as to why.  Regardless of your decision, we look forward to your continued collaboration  as  you  take  on  the  important  responsibility  of  finding  a  qualified  candidate  to  fill  a policymaking role of crucial importance to the public.

Thank you for your service to the 12th  District and our nation.

Respectfully submitted,

California Reinvestment Coalition Greenlining Institute Center for Popular Democracy Community Council of Idaho Chicanos Por La Causa NALCAB – National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development TELACU

cc: Jerome Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Lael Brainard, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Randal Quarles, Vice Chairman for Supervision, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve