The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23,1913,with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act,after a series of financial panics led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises. Over the years,events such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession during the 2000s have led to the expansion of the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System.
A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System,the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total,one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The banks are jointly responsible for implementing the monetary policy set forth by the Federal Open Market Committee,and are divided as follows:
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.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is a committee within the Federal Reserve System that is charged under United States law with overseeing the nation's open market operations. This Federal Reserve committee makes key decisions about interest rates and the growth of the United States money supply. Under the terms of the original Federal Reserve Act,each of the Federal Reserve banks was authorized to buy and sell in the open market bonds and short term obligations of the United States Government,bank acceptances,cable transfers,and bills of exchange. Hence,the reserve banks were at times bidding against each other in the open market. In 1922,an informal committee was established to execute purchases and sales. The Banking Act of 1933 formed an official FOMC.
Janet Louise Yellen is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26,2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She is the first person to hold those positions having also led the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the first woman to hold either post.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board,is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the monetary policy of the United States. Governors are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate for staggered 14-year terms. It is headquartered in the Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue,N.W. in Washington,D.C.
Stephen Moore is an American conservative writer and television commentator on economic issues. He co-founded and served as president of the Club for Growth from 1999 to 2004. Moore is a former member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. He worked at The Heritage Foundation from 1983 to 1987 and again since 2014. Moore advised Herman Cain's 2012 presidential campaign and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Randal Keith Quarles is an American private equity investor and attorney who served as the first Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve for supervision from 2017 to 2021. He concurrently served as the chair of the Financial Stability Board from 2018 to 2021.
Lael Brainard is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21,2023. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair,Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve,she served as the under secretary of the treasury for international affairs from 2010 to 2013.
Elizabeth "Betsy" Ashburn Duke is an American bank executive who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2008 to 2013. Duke was confirmed by the Senate to fill an unexpired term ending January 31,2012. She was the seventh woman to be appointed to the board. In July 2013 she announced her resignation from the board.
Sarah Bloom Raskin is an American attorney and regulator who served as the 13th United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 2014 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party,Bloom Raskin previously served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2010 to 2014. She also was Maryland commissioner of financial regulation and a managing director at the Promontory Financial Group. She is a Rubenstein Fellow at Duke University. In May 2017,she was elected to the board of directors for Reserve Trust Company,a Fintech company based in Colorado. In January 2022,President Joe Biden nominated her to succeed Randal Quarles as vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve. On March 15,2022,she withdrew her nomination due to opposition from Republican senators and Democratic senator Joe Manchin.
Richard Harris Clarida is an American economist who served as the 21st Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2018 to 2022. Clarida resigned his post on January 14,2022,to return from public service leave to teach at Columbia University for the spring term of 2022. He is the C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Columbia University and,from 2006 until September 2018,Global Strategic Advisor for PIMCO. He is notable for his contributions to dynamic stochastic general equilibrium theory and international monetary economics. He is a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and is a recipient of the Treasury Medal. He also was a proponent of the theory that inflation was transitory during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jerome Hayden "Jay" Powell is an American attorney and investment banker who has served as the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve since 2018.
Judy Lynn Shelton is an American economic advisor to former President Donald Trump. She is known for her advocacy for a return to the gold standard and for her criticisms of the Federal Reserve. Trump announced on July 2,2019,that he would nominate Shelton to the Fed. Her nomination stalled on November 17,2020,with a 47–50 vote in the Senate,and her nomination was eventually withdrawn by President Joe Biden in February 2021.
Marvin Seth Goodfriend was an American economist. He held the Allan H. Meltzer Professorship in economics at Carnegie Mellon University;he was previously the director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Following his 2017 nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,the White House decided to forgo renominating Goodfriend at the beginning of the new term.
Jelena McWilliams is a Serbian-American business executive and a former Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She was nominated to the position and to the FDIC Board of Directors by President Donald Trump,and the Senate confirmed her appointment on May 24,2018. She was sworn in as Chairman on June 5,2018. Previously,McWilliams was executive vice president and chief legal officer of Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati,Ohio. She resigned from her position as Chairman of the Board of the FDIC on February 4,2022.
Lisa DeNell Cook is an American economist who has served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since May 23,2022. She is the first African American woman and first woman of color to sit on the Board. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve,she was elected to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Jean Nellie Liang is an economist who currently serves as President Joe Biden's Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance.
Christopher J. Waller is an American economist who is a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2020. A nominee of then-President Donald Trump,he was confirmed by the Senate in December 2020,to serve through January 2030.
The vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the second-highest officer of the Federal Reserve,after the chair of the Federal Reserve. In the absence of the chair,the vice chair presides over the meetings Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
