Chair of the Federal Reserve

The chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. The incumbent is the active executive officer of the Board of the Federal Reserve System. The chair presides over the meetings of the board who collectively convene to set American monetary policy.

The chair 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 chair may serve multiple terms, subject to re-nomination and confirmation each time; William McChesney Martin (1951–1970) was the longest serving chair, with Alan Greenspan (1987–2006) closely second.

Appointment

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.see The Senate Committee responsible for vetting a Federal Reserve chair nominee is the Senate Committee on Banking.

Duties By law, at meetings of the board the chair presides, or in the absence of the chair, the vice chair presides. In the absence of the chair and the vice chair, the board elects a member to act as chair pro tempore.see

Under the chair'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.

By custom, the chair also chairs the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which directs short-term U.S. monetary policy. Although the statute and rules of the FOMC allow it to elect any member as its chair,see FOMC Rules of Organisation at https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/rules_authorizations.htm it has always chosen the chair of the board in practice.

By law, the chair reports twice a year to Congress on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy objectives. The chair of the Federal Reserve 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.

Conflict of interest law The law applicable to the chair and all other members of the board provides (in part):

Salary The chair of the Federal Reserve is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule, thus earning the salary for that level (US$246,400, as of April 2024).

List of Fed chairs Following the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913, the United States secretary of the treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo became responsible for overseeing of the establishment of the Federal Reserve system. He became the ex officio chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and a member of the Reserve Bank Organization Committee (RBOC). Until the Banking Act of 1935 was signed into law on Aug. 23, 1935 and became effective on Feb. 1, 1936, the incumbent treasury secretary had also been the ex officio Fed chair, whilst the de facto active head of the central bank was known as the governor of the Federal Reserve Board. The 1935 Act ended ex-officio membership of the treasury secretary, re-designating the governor as the chairman of the Board of Governors.

Since Alan Greenspan's term beginning in 1987, Fed chairs have largely been economists with a doctorate in economics, with the exception of Jerome Powell and Kevin Warsh, who had each been a lawyer and investment banker before the start of his term. Arthur Burns had been the first Fed chair to have a PhD in economics, although his two successors prior to Greenspan did not. Some economists have argued that a Fed chair ought to have a PhD in economics.

The following is a list of the past and present chairs of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as well as governors of the Federal Reserve Board prior to the 1935 Act taking effect. A chair serves for a four-year term after appointment, but may be reappointed for several further four-year terms. Since the Federal Reserve was established in 1914, the following people have served as chair.

NameTermDurationAppointerExperienceEducationStartEnd–December 23, 1913August 10, 1914ex officioLawyerSecretary of the TreasuryUniversity of Tennessee (BA)1August 10, 1914August 9, 1916Woodrow WilsonLawyerAssistant Secretary of the TreasuryHarvard University (BA, MA)2August 10, 1916August 9, 1922BankerMember of the Federal Reserve BoardUniversity of Alabama (BA, MA)3May 1, 1923September 15, 1927Warren G. HardingLawyerComptroller of the CurrencyUniversity of Akron (BS)University of Cincinnati (LLB)4October 4, 1927August 31, 1930Calvin CoolidgeBankerPresident of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis5September 16, 1930May 10, 1933Herbert HooverFinancierYale University (BA)6May 19, 1933August 15, 1934Franklin D. RooseveltLawyerPresident of the Federal Reserve Bank of AtlantaUniversity of Georgia (BA)Atlanta Law School (LLB)7November 15, 1934January 31, 1948Banker8April 15, 1948March 31, 1951Harry S. TrumanBusiness executiveSwarthmore College (BA)9April 2, 1951January 31, 1970Harry S. TrumanDwight D. EisenhowerJohn F. KennedyLyndon B. JohnsonFinancierPresident of the New York Stock ExchangeYale University (BA)Columbia University (attended)10February 1, 1970January 31, 1978Richard NixonGerald FordEconomistChair of the Council of Economic AdvisersCounselor to the PresidentColumbia University (BA, MA, PhD)11March 8, 1978August 6, 1979Jimmy CarterLawyer, investment banker, business executiveAmarillo College (attended)United States Coast Guard Academy (BS)University of California, Berkeley (LLB)12August 6, 1979August 11, 1987Jimmy CarterRonald ReaganEconomistPresident of the Federal Reserve Bank of New YorkPrinceton University (BA)Harvard University (MA)London School of Economics (attended)13August 11, 1987January 31, 2006Ronald ReaganGeorge H. W. BushBill ClintonGeorge W. BushEconomistChair of the Council of Economic AdvisersNew York University (BA, MA, PhD)Columbia University (attended)14February 1, 2006January 31, 2014George W. BushBarack ObamaEconomistChair of the Council of Economic AdvisersHarvard University (BA, MA)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)15February 3, 2014February 3, 2018Barack ObamaDonald TrumpEconomistVice Chair of the Federal ReservePresident of the Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscoChair of the Council of Economic AdvisersBrown University (BA)Yale University (MA, PhD)16February 5, 2018May 22, 2026Donald TrumpJoe BidenDonald TrumpLawyer and investment bankerUnder Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic FinanceAssistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial InstitutionsPrinceton University (BA)Georgetown University (JD)17Kevin WarshMay 22, 2026IncumbentDonald TrumpInvestment banker and financierMember of the Federal Reserve Board of GovernorsStanford University (BA)Harvard University (JD)

Chair of the Federal Reserve

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