Announced this week, Raphael Bostic will serve as the new president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Atlanta Fed) effective June 5, 2017, succeeding Dennis Lockhart, who retired from the Atlanta Fed on Feb. 28.
Bostic, 50, is currently the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), a position he has held since 2012. He will become the Atlanta Fed’s 15th president and CEO.
“We are very pleased that Raphael will join the Atlanta Fed as its president and chief executive officer,” said Thomas Fanning, chairman of the board of the Atlanta Fed and chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company. “He is a seasoned and versatile leader, bringing with him a wealth of experience in public policy and academia. Raphael also has significant experience leading complex organizations and managing interdisciplinary teams. He is a perfect bridge between people and policy.”
Bostic also served as assistant secretary for Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2009 to 2012. In that role, Bostic was a principal adviser to the secretary on policy and research.
From 1995 to 2001, Bostic worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, serving as an economist and then a senior economist in the monetary and financial studies section. While working at the Federal Reserve, he served as special assistant to HUD’s assistant secretary of policy development and research in 1999.
“The Reserve Banks are vital contributors to our nation’s economic and financial success,” Bostic said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to work with the Bank’s well-respected staff in advancing the excellent reputation this organization has built over many years. In my role as president of the Atlanta Reserve Bank, I also look forward to confronting the challenges the Federal Reserve faces in today’s increasingly global and rapidly changing economy.”
He graduated from Harvard University in 1987 with a combined major in economics and psychology and earned his doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 1995.
Bostic is the first African-American, as well as the first openly gay, president of one of the 12 regional banks that make up the Federal Reserve System.
“His appointment to lead the Atlanta Fed is an historic step forward that is long overdue,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, said. “In its century of existence, the Fed’s ranks have lacked the kind of diversity — of race, gender, background, and ideas — that reflects the wide spectrum of Americans’ experiences and economic realities. I will continue to encourage the Federal Reserve System as a whole to keep making progress in bringing more diversity to its workforce and leadership”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, also applauded Bostic’s appointment.
“His wealth of experience and research on wealth disparities and barriers to economic opportunity will play a critical role in shaping the economic policy decisions that affect all American families,” Waters said. “Given the disparate economic experiences faced by key demographic groups, it is crucial that a broader cross-section of groups have a seat at the decision-making table.”