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WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Reuters) – Mary Daly's appointment as head of the San Francisco Federal Reserve shows that some regional central banks continue to create diverse leaders as criticism grows over the hiring the Fed policies while others are late.
Daly, an economist with the San Francisco Fed for more than 20 years, will take office Oct. 1, the bank said Friday.
She succeeds John Williams who took the lead of the powerful New York Fed in June, an appointment that sparked the outcry of politicians and activist groups following the bank's decision to select a white man seeking various candidates.
High school dropout who lived alone at age 16, Daly will add a particular perspective to a group dominated by men who set interest rates for the world's largest economy.
While the ranks of minorities and women have increased throughout the Fed, even with the addition of Daly, this means that only two of the 15 current policymakers in the central bank are non-white and all but four are men.
Until Friday, of the 135 or so regional bank presidents in the Fed's history, all but six were men. Half of the 12 regional banks have still not chosen a leader who is not a white man.
Philadelphia, Richmond and Dallas have all named new presidents in the last three years.
The Fed's decision-making body includes the 12 regional banks and members of the Washington-based Fed's board of directors, which currently has three members, including one woman. Last month, with the Senate confirming the appointment of Richard Clarida as vice-president, this means that the Fed's three most powerful positions will be filled by white men.
In 2016, 127 lawmakers wrote a letter to the central bank urging more diverse personalities to "reflect and represent the interests of our diverse country."
The 104-year-old central bank has never had a black district president until last year, when Raphael Bostic was chosen to head the Atlanta Fed, while the Fed's president, Janet Yellen was the first to lead the Fed.
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Yellen also broke the mold at the San Francisco Fed, becoming the first woman to be named leader in 2004. Daly, who was mentored by Yellen, has a strong background in the bank where she became executive vice president. and director of research.
Two other Fed regional banks have also made progress in diversification.
The Cleveland Federal Reserve appointed half of the six women to hold a regional presidency, while the Minneapolis Fed had two non-white leaders.
Daly and Bostic are also the first two presidents of openly homosexual regional banks in the Fed's history.
In a speech in April, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester emphasized the need for the central bank to hear her voice.
"I have seen first-hand how the diversity of views expressed and discussed around the table can actually lead to better policy decisions, and there is real research to support that," Mester said. (Report by Lindsay Dunsmuir, edited by Andrea Ricci)
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