Loretta J. Mester

Loretta J. Mester is President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Background

Mester was born in Baltimore, Maryland on October 24, 1958.[1] She is married to George Mailath, who has been extolled as being one of the world’s top game theorists, and an economist at the University of Pennsylvania. Both Loretta and George are avid opera fans. In fact, Mester has – on more than one occasion – cited Richard Wagner’s epic four-opera Ring Cycle as an analogy for the housing boom and crisis.[2]

Education

Mester has a Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) from Barnard College, Columbia University in Mathematics and Economics and a Masters and Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University. She was also a National Science Foundation Fellow at Princeton.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Dr. Mester became the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland at the beginning of June 2014. She was the 11th president and CEO of Cleveland’s Fourth District Federal Reserve Bank. A year later she took on the additional position of “alternate voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.” [3]

In her capacity in these leading roles at the Fed, Mester plays an active part in the establishment of U.S. monetary policy, while supervising 950 employees throughout Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. These staff members engage in economic research, administer banking institutions and prepare payment services to commercial banks and the American government.

Other professional roles

As well as her current position with the Fed, Mester is an adjunct professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a fellow at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. Other positions Mester holds include: Greater Cleveland Partnership director, a trustee of both the Cleveland Clinic and the Musical Arts Association, a founding director of the Financial Intermediation Research Society, a member of the advisory board of the Financial Intermediation Network of European Studies (FINEST), the American Economic Association, the American Finance Association, the Econometric Society, and the Financial Management Association International.[4]

Publications

Mester has published articles in various journals on the subjects of central banking, economics and finance. She is co-editor of the Journal of Financial Services Research and the International Journal of Central Banking. She is an associate editor of: the Journal of Financial Intermediation; Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; Journal of Financial Services Research; Journal of Economics and Business; Research in Banking and Finance; and Journal of Financial Stability. She is a Co-editor of the International Journal of Central Banking.

Employment history

Mester came to her current position at the Cleveland Fed with experience from her work at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, where she was Executive Vice President, Director of Research and Chief Policy Advisor. She began work with the Federal Reserve Bank (in Philadelphia) back in 1985 as an economist, thereafter being promoted to Senior Vice President, Director of Research, Executive Vice President. During her time with the Fed, Mester has participated in Federal Open Market Committee meetings, supervising analysts and economists from the Research Department and professionals in both the Financial Statistics Department and the Payments Cards Center.

In the past, Mester taught in both the MBA and BA business courses at Wharton and the Ph.D. finance course at New York University.

Philanthropic endeavors

Dr. Mester is a director of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, a trustee of the Cleveland Clinic, a trustee of the Musical Arts Association (Cleveland Orchestra), a founding director of the Financial Intermediation Research Society, and a member of the advisory board of the Financial Intermediation Network of European Studies (FINEST). She is also a member of the American Economic Association, the American Finance Association, the Econometric Society and the Financial Management Association International.[3]

Acclaim

Mester is perceived as a leader in the field of measuring the economies of scale exhibited by large banks. She has undertaken extensive research in this area with Joseph Hughes of Rutgers University. According to a former Fed Vice Chairman, Donald Kohn, “She expresses herself clearly and isn’t afraid to make her views known, even when they go against received wisdom. But she is reasonable and open to data and studies that might change her mind.” Richard Fisher, President of the Dallas Federal Reserve said, “she has been a key, influential advisor to Charles Plosser and, as you know, Charles and I are like-minded as regards monetary policy. That said, Loretta will speak her own mind at FOMC. I expect her to be an effective voice at the table.” [5]

References

  1. ↑ "Loretta Mester". Federal Reserve History. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  2. ↑ McGrane, Victoria. "5 Things to Know about Incoming Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Federal Reserve Bank Presidents". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Loretta J. Mester". Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Fed's Mester strongly backs U.S. rate hike as prudent first step". Reuters. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.