Philly Fed taps Chicago Fed research chief as next president

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has hired a veteran monetary policy and financial stability specialist to be its next president and CEO.

Anna Paulson, currently the executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, will take the reins at the Philly Fed on July 1.

Paulson, 60, will replace outgoing Philly Fed President Patrick Harker, who is stepping down from the post after hitting his mandatory retirement date, having both hit the Fed’s age limit and term limit. 

Anthony Ibargüen, chair of the Philly Fed board of directors and the search committee tasked with identifying Harker’s replacement, cited Paulson’s leadership experience within the Federal Reserve System as well as her research acumen for the decision to hire her. 

“Anna Paulson’s economics and monetary policy expertise, as well as her leadership at the Chicago Fed and throughout the Federal Reserve System, make her the ideal person to serve as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia,” Ibargüen said in a statement. “For two decades, Anna has demonstrated a strong commitment to the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Her expansive technical expertise and mission-driven focus will be a tremendous asset to the Philadelphia Fed and the communities it serves.”

In her current role in Chicago, Paulson leads research and monetary policy analysis, studies banking, financial markets and the economy on micro, macro and regional levels. She also established the reserve bank’s Insurance Initiative to analyze financial stability and regulatory issues in the insurance industry.

As a head of the Philly Fed, Paulson will oversee the reserve bank’s research, bank examination and financial services functions within the Fed’s Third District, which includes most of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and all of Delaware. It is the smallest of the system’s 12 districts.

“I am honored to serve as the next president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia,” Paulson said in a statement. “I look forward to meeting people throughout the Third District and leading the Philadelphia Fed team who are deeply committed to fostering the stability, integrity, and efficiency of the nation’s monetary, financial, and payment systems. I am excited to become part of the community in the Third District.”

She will also serve on the Federal Open Market Committee — the Fed’s monetary policy-setting arm — alongside the other reserve bank presidents and Fed Board governors. She will have a voting seat on the committee one out of every three years, with her first voting stint beginning next year. 

Paulson has a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. She joined the Chicago Fed as an economist in 2001, was promoted to vice president of the reserve bank’s financial markets group in 2009 and became associate director of research in 2017. In 2019, she was promoted to director of research.

Harker, who joined the Philly Fed in 2015, is the longest-serving of the presidents currently in the Federal Reserve System, although New York Fed President John Williams led the San Francisco Fed for seven years before moving to New York in 2018.