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President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson to serve as the central bank’s vice chair, and economist and top World Bank official Adriana Kugler to fill a vacancy on the Fed’s board of governors.
Jefferson would be the central bank’s second Black vice chair, and Kugler, a Colombian-American, would be the first Latina to serve on the board. She currently serves as executive director for the U.S. at the World Bank.
The Fed has never had a Latino serve as a governor or president, and Biden had faced pressure from Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who is a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, to nominate a Latino economist.
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Jefferson would fill the vice-chair spot vacated by Lael Brainard, who now runs the White House’s National Economic Council. Brainard was both a governor and the Fed’s No. 2.
The president also announced that he will re-nominate Lisa Cook for an additional full term as a member.
“Dr. Jefferson and Dr. Cook will continue to bring valuable insight, expertise, and continuity to the Fed at a critical time for our economy and families across the country,” Biden said in a statement.
Menendez said history was unfolding “in real time” with the nominations.
“We are finally giving Latinos, all 62 million of us who call this country home, a seat at the table where the most consequential decisions on monetary policy are made, and I for one will make it my personal mission to help ensure swift confirmations for Jefferson, Cook, and Kugler,” he said in a statement.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who heads the Senate Banking Committee, said he looked forward to confirming the nominees “quickly.” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the panel’s top Republican, said he would be “thoroughly vetting” them.
Earlier, the administration had considered names including Karen Dynan, a former Treasury official and Fed staffer, and Janice Eberly, another former Treasury official, for the No. 2 post at the Fed.
Jefferson took office as a Fed governor in May 2022. Before that, he was an administrator and economics professor at Davidson College. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia.
Kugler, who got her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, is on leave from Georgetown University while serving at the World Bank. She would bring labor expertise to the Fed, having also served as chief economist of the Labor Department during the Obama administration, from 2011 to 2013.
