Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Statutory description

Governors are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate for staggered 14-year terms. By law, the appointments must yield a "fair representation of the financial, agricultural, industrial, and commercial interests and geographical divisions of the country". As stipulated in the Banking Act of 1935, the chair and vice chair of the Board are two of seven members of the Board of Governors who are appointed by the president from among the sitting governors of the Federal Reserve Banks.

The terms of the seven members of the board span multiple presidential and congressional terms. Once a member of the Board of Governors is appointed by the president, the members function mostly independently. Such independence is unanimously supported by major economists. The board is required to make an annual report of operations to the speaker of the House. It also supervises and regulates the operations of the Federal Reserve Banks, and the U.S. banking system in general. The Board obtains its funding from charges that it assesses on the Federal Reserve Banks, and not from the federal budget, though net earnings of the Federal Reserve Banks are ultimately remitted to the US Treasury.

Membership is by statute limited in term, and a member who has served for a full 14-year term is not eligible for reappointment.

The chair and vice chair of the Board of Governors are appointed by the president from among the sitting governors. They both serve a four-year term and they can be renominated as many times as the president chooses until their terms on the Board of Governors expire.

All seven board members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and five Federal Reserve Bank presidents direct the open market operations that set U.S. monetary policy through their membership in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Records of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors are found in the Record Group n. 82 at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Current members

The current members of the Board of Governors are as follows:

Committees

There are eight committees.

• Committee on Board Affairs
• Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs
• Committee on Economic and Financial Monitoring and Research
• Committee on Financial Stability
• Committee on Federal Reserve Bank Affairs
• Committee on Bank Supervision
• Subcommittee on Smaller Regional and Community Banking
• Committee on Payments, Clearing, and Settlement

List of governors

The following is a list of past and present members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. A governor serves for a fourteen-year term after appointment and a member who serves a full term may not be reappointed; when a governor completes an unexpired portion of a term, they may be reappointed. Since the Federal Reserve was established in 1914, the following people have served as governor.

Status

• Italics denotes date of term expiration

Succession of seats

The Federal Reserve Board has seven seats subject to Senate confirmation, separate from a member's term as chair or vice chair.

Structure of leadership

The chair, vice chair, and vice chair for supervision are appointed by the president from among the sitting members of the board to serve a four-year term and they can be renominated as many times as the president chooses, subject to Senate confirmation each time, until their terms on the Board of Governors expire.

Nominations, confirmations, and resignations

Obama administration

In late December 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Jeremy C. Stein, a Harvard University finance professor and a Democrat, and Jerome Powell, formerly of Dillon Read, Bankers Trust and the Carlyle Group and a Republican. Both candidates also have Treasury Department experience in the Obama and George H. W. Bush administrations respectively.

"Obama administration officials [had] regrouped to identify Fed candidates after Peter Diamond, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, withdrew his nomination to the board in June [2011] in the face of Republican opposition. Richard Clarida, a potential nominee who was a Treasury official under George W. Bush, pulled out of consideration in August [2011]", one account of the December nominations noted. The two other Obama nominees in 2011, Janet Yellen and Sarah Bloom Raskin, were confirmed in September. One of the vacancies was created in 2011 with the resignation of Kevin Warsh, who took office in 2006 to fill the unexpired term ending January 31, 2018, and resigned his position effective March 31, 2011. In March 2012, U.S. senator David Vitter (R, LA) said he would oppose Obama's Stein and Powell nominations, dampening near-term hopes for approval. However, Senate leaders reached a deal, paving the way for affirmative votes on the two nominees in May 2012 and bringing the board to full strength for the first time since 2006with Duke's service after term end. Later, on January 6, 2014, the United States Senate confirmed Yellen's nomination to be chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; she was the first woman to hold the position. Subsequently, President Obama nominated Stanley Fischer to replace Yellen as the vice-chair.

In April 2014, Stein announced he was leaving to return to Harvard on May 28 with four years remaining on his term. At the time of the announcement, the FOMC "already is down three members as it awaits the Senate confirmation of ... Fischer and Lael Brainard, and as [President] Obama has yet to name a replacement for ... Duke. ... Powell is still serving as he awaits his confirmation for a second term."

Allan R. Landon, former president and CEO of the Bank of Hawaii, was nominated in early 2015 by President Obama to the board.

In July 2015, President Obama nominated University of Michigan economist Kathryn M. Dominguez to fill the second vacancy on the board. The Senate had not yet acted on Landon's confirmation by the time of the second nomination.

Daniel Tarullo submitted his resignation from the board on February 10, 2017, effective on or around April 5, 2017.

Unsuccessful

The below table shows those who were formally nominated to fill a vacant seat but failed to be confirmed by the Senate.

In addition some have been announced but never formally nominated before being withdrawn from consideration. Alicia Munnell, representing Boston, was announced to fill LaWare's seat by Bill Clinton in 1995. Felix Rohatyn (district unknown) was announced to fill Alan Blinder's as vice chair and his seat in 1996. Steve Moore and Herman Cain were announced to fill Bloom Raskin and Yellen's seats (without specifying which seat or district) by Donald Trump in 2019.

References

References

1. "The Federal Reserve Bank Discount Window & Payment System Risk Website".
2. "Reserve Requirements".
3. "Open Market Operations Archive".
4. "Interest on Required Reserve Balances and Excess Balances".
5. See {{usc. 12. 241
6. Federal Reserve. (January 16, 2009). "Board of Governors FAQ". Federal Reserve.
7. [http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/fed-appointments Federal Reserve Board of Governors – Appointments] {{Bare URL inline. (August 2022)
8. {{usc. 12. 247.
9. "Federal Reserve Board - Section 7. Division of Earnings".
11. "The Three Key System Entities". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
12. (February 2006). "Records of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Record Group 82 at the National Archives of the United States". Financial History Review.
13. "Federal Reserve Board - Board Members".
14. [http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/default.htm "About the Fed"] on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors website
15. "Board of Governors Members, 1914-Present". Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
16. (22 August 2025). "Can Trump Fire a Fed Governor? What to Know About the Legal Arguments".
17. Smale, Pauline H.. (February 9, 1985). "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: History, Membership, and Current Issues". [[Congressional Research Service]].
18. "List of Suggested Appointments to the Federal Reserve Board". [[FRASER]].
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20. Goldstein, Steve (December 27, 2011). [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-to-nominate-stein-powell-to-fed-board-2011-12-27?link=MW_home_latest_news "Obama to nominate Stein, Powell to Fed board"]. ''MarketWatch''. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
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22. Lanman, Scott; Runningen, Roger (December 27, 2011). [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-27/obama-to-nominate-jerome-powell-jeremy-stein-to-fed-s-board-of-governors.html "Obama to Choose Powell, Stein for Fed Board"]. Bloomberg LP. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
23. Robb, Greg (April 29, 2010). [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-nominates-3-to-federal-reserve-board-2010-04-29 "Obama nominates 3 to Federal Reserve board"]. ''[[MarketWatch]]''. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
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25. Censky, Annalyn (February 10, 2011). [https://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/news/economy/fed_official_warsh_resigns/index.htm "Fed inflation hawk Warsh resigns"]. ''[[CNNMoney]]''. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
26. Chan, Sewell (February 10, 2011). [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/economy/11fed.html "Sole Fed Governor With Close Ties to Conservatives Resigns"]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
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28. Robb, Greg, [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stein-sworn-in-as-fed-governor-2012-05-30 "Stein sworn in as Fed governor"], ''MarketWatch'', May 30, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
29. Lowrey, Annie. (January 6, 2014). "Senate Confirms Yellen as Fed Chairwoman". The New York Times.
30. Puzzanghera, Jim. (January 10, 2014). "Obama to nominate Stanley Fischer, 2 others to Federal Reserve seats".
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33. Leubsdorf, Ben, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/president-obama-to-nominate-kathryn-dominguez-as-fed-governor-1437422626 "Kathryn Dominguez to Be Nominated for Fed Governor"], ''Wall Street Journal'', July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
34. (February 10, 2017). "Press Release, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System".
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36. Haberman, Clyde. (February 23, 1996). "Talent Lost to a Failure Called Politics". [[The New York Times]].
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38. (April 4, 2019). "Trump Says He's Recommending Herman Cain to Fed". CNN.
39. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/106th-congress/480 PN480 — Carol J. Parry — Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 106th Congress (1999–2000)]
40. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/110th-congress/569 PN569 — Larry Allan Klane — Federal Reserve System, 110th Congress (2007–2008)]
41. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/111th-congress/1726 PN1726 — Peter A. Diamond — Federal Reserve System 111th Congress (2009–2010)]
42. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/111th-congress/2121 PN2121 — Peter A. Diamond — Federal Reserve System 111th Congress (2009–2010)]
43. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/112th-congress/52 PN52 — Peter A. Diamond — Federal Reserve System 112th Congress (2011–2012)]
44. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/114th-congress/2?s=5&r=1930 PN2 — Allan R. Landon — Federal Reserve System 114th Congress (2015–2016)]
45. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/114th-congress/3?s=5&r=1929 PN3 — Allan R. Landon — Federal Reserve System 114th Congress (2015–2016)]
46. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/114th-congress/674 PN674 — Kathryn M. Dominguez — Federal Reserve System 114th Congress (2015–2016)]
47. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/1279 PN1279 — Marvin Goodfriend — Federal Reserve System 115th Congress (2017–2018)]
48. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/1348 PN1348 — Marvin Goodfriend — Federal Reserve System 115th Congress (2017–2018)]
49. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/2543 PN2543 — Jean Nellie Liang — Federal Reserve System 115th Congress (2017–2018)]
50. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/116th-congress/1422 PN1422 — Judy Shelton — Federal Reserve System 116th Congress (2019–2020)]
51. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/3 PN3 — Judy Shelton — Federal Reserve System 117th Congress (2021–2022)]
52. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/1677 PN1677 — Sarah Bloom Raskin — Federal Reserve System 117th Congress (2021–2022)]
53. [https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/1678 PN1678 — Sarah Bloom Raskin — Federal Reserve System 117th Congress (2021–2022)]