The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on Monday said its next president will be Raphael Bostic, a professor at the University of Southern California who will become the first black person to lead a regional Fed institution in the central bank's 103-year history.
Bostic, who served from 2009 to 2012 as assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, helped to formulate policies responding to the deepest recession since the 1930s. While his specific views on monetary policy aren't known, he's shown a career interest in aiding poor and struggling communities.
"Dr. Bostic understands the important linkages of monetary policy and their impact on real estate," said Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist in Washington. Yun said he expects Bostic wants to reverse a 50-year decline in the homeownership rate while "implementing policies in a safe and sound manner."
Fed Chair Janet Yellen has been pressed by Democrats during congressional appearances to ensure monetary policy leaders are more representative of the American public — a goal that she has repeatedly said is shared within the central bank.
Fed presidents are selected by boards of directors, with review by the Fed governors in Washington. An August study by Brookings Institution fellow Aaron Klein found that of 134 people who have served as regional Fed presidents since the central bank's creation in 1913, none were African-American or Latino, and only six were women.
FOMC Voter
Bostic, 50, will take his post on June 5, succeeding Dennis Lockhart, who retired Feb. 28.
Bostic will have a vote on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2018 and will take part in his first FOMC meeting as a policy maker on June 13-14. Atlanta Fed First Vice President Marie Gooding, who has assumed Lockhart's duties, will attend this week's meeting of the FOMC in Washington and the next gathering, on May 2-3.
