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 a member of the Board of Governors. The chairman may serve multiple terms, pending a new nomination and confirmation at the end of each term; William McChesney Martin (1951-1970) was the longest serving chair, with Alan Greenspan (1987-2006) 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]
As stipulated by the Banking Act of 1935, the Chairman is chosen by the president from among the sitting governors to serve four-year terms with the advice and consent of the Senate.[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
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]
By custom, 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. However, the chair of the FOMC is elected at the first meeting of each year, and while the chair of the Board of Governors has always been chosen there is no legal obligation for this to be the case.[14]
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.[15]
Conflict of interest law
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.[16]
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][18]
^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, whereas the Federal Reserve has been created as an independent 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.
^"The Fed - Board Members". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. February 21, 2018. Archived from the original on March 18, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
^Federal Reserve (January 16, 2009). "Board of Governors FAQ". Federal Reserve. Archived from the original on January 17, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
^"Chairs". Membership of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1914–present. The Federal Reserve Board. February 5, 2018. Archived from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
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