Former state regulator among trio of Fed nominees

(Jan. 21, 2022) The names of three candidates to fill three open seats on the Federal Reserve Board are now in the hands of the U.S. Senate – including the name of a former state regulator.

Late last week, President Joe Biden (D) nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin, Lisa DeNell Cook and Phillip N. Jefferson to fill open seats on the central bank’s board.

Raskin – a former Maryland commissioner of financial regulation – was also nominated to be Fed vice chair for supervision, a position open since last fall when the term of Randal Quarles in that job expired. Quarles resigned from the board last month, even though his term as a board member ran to January, 2032. According to the White House, Raskin currently is the Colin W. Brown Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at the Duke University School of Law in Durham, N.C.

If confirmed, Raskin would serve a four-year term as supervision vice chair, and the rest of the Quarles term, ending in 10 years.

Raskin previously served on the Fed Board (from October 2010 to March 2014), and is a former deputy Treasury secretary.

Cook is a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University in Lansing. She has also served at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama (D). Jefferson, a former Fed economist, is vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, and the Paul B. Freeland professor of economics, at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C.

If confirmed, Cook would serve a term that ends in 2024; Jefferson would serve a 14-year term ending in 2036. If all three are confirmed, the seven seats on the Fed Board would be filled.

LINK:

Nominations Sent to The Senate on Thursday, January 13, 2022