Dr. Philip Nathan Jefferson of North Carolina, nominated to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, speaks during his Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., Feb. 3, 2022.
Ken Sednor | Reuters
Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson will be nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the White House announced on Friday.
Although one of the newest members of the board, Jefferson will take over a key policymaking position as the Fed tries to curb inflation without triggering a harmful recession.
Biden also said he would nominate Adriana Coogler for the governor’s vacancy and Lisa Cook for a second term as governor. Coogler, currently the U.S. representative to the World Bank, will be the first Latino on the board, while Cook has served on the board since May 2022.
“These nominees understand that this job is not partisan, but one that plays a critical role in the pursuit of maximum employment, maintaining price stability, and regulating our nation’s many financial institutions,” Biden said in a statement. I am confident that these nominees will help build on the historically strong economic recovery we have achieved under my administration.”
The moves, which need to be confirmed by the Senate, come as the Fed grapples with a banking crisis that has seen several regional institutions fail over the past two months.
The Senate confirmed Jefferson to the board in May 2022, four months after he was nominated by President Joe Biden.
Since taking office, Jefferson has been relatively quiet on policy. In recent remarks, he opposed raising the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target and said he was not particularly concerned about the pace of the slowdown. He has voted in favor of every approved rate hike since taking office.
As vice chair, he succeeds current NEC director Lael Brainard. One of the more progressive members of the board, Brainard opposes deregulation of regional banks and has been an advocate for research into whether the Federal Reserve should adopt a central bank digital currency.
Before joining the Federal Reserve, Jefferson was professor of economics, vice president for academic affairs, and provost at Davidson College. He has also served as a professor at Columbia University and Swarthmore College and as a research economist at the Federal Reserve.
The nomination was not a surprise. Many media reports said that Jefferson is likely to become Biden’s vice chairman candidate.
If confirmed, Jefferson would become the second black person to hold the vice-chairmanship. Cook is the first black woman to serve on the board.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown applauded the nomination.
Brown said in a statement that the nominees “reflect our nation’s vibrant diversity, and the people who make it work.”
—Reporting by Kayla Tausche