Jerome Powell
Jerome Powell is the sixteenth chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, having been confirmed in January 2018. He was originally nominated to the Federal Reserve Board by President Barack Obama in 2012 and later appointed as chair by President Donald Trump. Powell, who was born on February 4, 1953, in Washington, DC, has a background in both law and finance, holding degrees from Princeton University and Georgetown University. His early career included positions in investment banking and public service, notably as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Treasury under President George H. W. Bush.
During his tenure as chair, Powell has navigated complex economic landscapes, including the gradual increase of federal interest rates in response to the post-Great Recession economy and the implementation of measures to combat the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. His cautious approach to fiscal policy has sometimes put him at odds with political figures, including both President Trump and President Biden. Despite facing critiques from both sides of the political spectrum, Powell was renominated by Biden in November 2021. Outside of his professional career, he resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife and three children.
Jerome Powell
Chair of the Federal Reserve Board
- Born: February 4, 1953
- Place of Birth: Washington, DC
Education: Princeton University; Georgetown University
Significance: Jerome Powell, a former investment banker and scholar, serves as the sixteenth chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Originally nominated to the Federal Reserve Board by President Barack Obama, Powell was confirmed as chair in January 2018. He then oversaw a slow process of raising federal interest rates to pre–Great Recession levels, despite criticism by President Donald Trump, who had nominated him for the position. Powell was renominated to the position by Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden.
Background
Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Jerome Hayden Powell was born on February 4, 1953, to lawyer Jerome Powell and former mathematician Patricia Hayden Powell in Washington, DC. His maternal grandfather, James J. Hayden, was dean of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America and a lecturer at Georgetown Law School. Powell grew up with five siblings in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and attended Georgetown Preparatory School, from which he graduated in 1971. He then enrolled at Princeton University, where he completed a bachelor of arts degree in politics in 1975, and went on to earn his law degree at Georgetown in 1979. While at Georgetown, he served as editor in chief of the Georgetown Law Journal.
After graduating, Powell moved to New York, where he clerked for Judge Ellsworth van Graafeiland of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, before joining the firms Davis Polk & Wardwell and Werbel & McMillen. In 1984, Powell switched to the financial sector, when he went to work for the investment bank Dillon, Read & Co, eventually rising to the level of senior vice president by 1990.
In 1993, Powell became managing director for Bankers Trust Company, where he worked for two years before returning to Dillon, Read & Co. as a managing director. In 1997, Powell went to work for a private-equity firm, the Carlyle Group, before cofounding the investment firm, Severn Capital Partners, in 2005. He moved again in 2008, this time to become a managing partner at the Global Environment Fund, which invests primarily in sustainable energy. From 2010 to 2012, he was a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, DC, think tank focused on economic matters, among other issues.
Political Career
Powell’s first public-sector position came in 1990 when he was appointed assistant secretary of the Treasury for domestic finance, after former Dillon, Read chair Nicholas F. Brady became secretary of the Treasury under President George H. W. Bush. Powell was later promoted to undersecretary. In his capacity at the Treasury, Powell handled bank failures and led investigations into the Salomon Brothers investment bank for improper and false bidding for federal contracts. He remained with the Treasury until 1993, when President Bill Clinton took office.
Powell would not return to the public sector until December 2011, when he was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Powell’s nomination was a compromise between President Obama and Senate Republicans who were blocking a Democratic nominee to a second vacant seat on the board. He was sworn in on May 25, 2012, and in 2014, was nominated to a second term. He spent much of the next several years overseeing the largest banking institutions in the United States. On November 2, 2017, Powell was nominated to the post of Federal Reserve chair by President Donald Trump, prompting the resignation of then chair Janet Yellen from the board. The Senate confirmed Powell’s appointment nearly three months later by a vote of 84 to 13. Powell was sworn in as chair on February 5, 2018.
Impact
As chair of the Federal Reserve, Powell has steered a cautious and moderate course on the nation’s fiscal policy. Beginning during the financial crisis of 2007–10, federal interest rates had remained at or near zero to bolster the economy and encourage ever greater investment. To prevent inflation and stoke economic growth, the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates incrementally in 2015 to return to pre-2008 levels. While some critics charged that the Federal Reserve was moving too slowly, Powell stated repeatedly that given mixed indicators, a conservative approach was best. Powell’s approach put him in direct conflict with President Trump, who had nominated him for the job. Trump criticized the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases, claiming that they would hurt US exports. Powell largely ignored the criticism, however, telling the 2018 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, “When you are uncertain about the effects of your actions, you should move conservatively. In other words, when unsure of the potency of a medicine, start with a somewhat smaller dose.” During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Powell shifted course, keeping interest rates near zero as a result of the economic downturn. He also often sparred with Republican leaders on the economic outlook during the pandemic and the fiscal response to the crisis. Though he faced criticism throughout 2021, this time from Democrats, Powell was renominated by President Joe Biden in November 2021 and confirmed for a second term in March 2022. In 2024, Powell noted that the Federal Reserve was considering additional interest rate cuts. He also stated that further actions would be less severe than the government's previous moves.
Personal Life
Powell married filmmaker Elissa Ann Leonard in September 1985. Together the couple have three children, Samuel, Lucy, and Susie, and reside in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Bibliography
Cox, Jeff. "Powell Indicates Further, Smaller Rate Cuts, Insists the Fed is 'Not On Any Preset Course.'" CNBC, 30 Sept. 2024, www.cnbc.com/2024/09/30/powell-indicates-further-rate-cuts-but-insists-the-fed-is-not-on-any-preset-course.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Goodwin, Jazmin. "Fed Chair Calls the Economic Recovery 'Extraordinarily Uncertain.'" CNN, 30 Nov. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/11/30/investing/fed-jerome-powell-economy-coronavirus/index.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
“Jerome H. Powell, Chair.” Federal Reserve Board, 1 Sept. 2022, www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/powell.htm. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Long, Heather. “Who Is Jerome Powell, Trump’s Pick for the Nation’s Most Powerful Economic Position?” Wonkblog, The Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/31/jerome-powell-trumps-pick-to-lead-fed-would-be-the-richest-chair-since-the-1940s. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Mirhaydari, Anthony. “Why the Fed’s Powell Is Resisting Trump’s Rate Hike Pressure.” CBS News, 27 Aug. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/powell-pushes-back-against-trumps-rate-hike-pressure. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Pavlik, Jeffrey. “Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Is So Straightforward I Almost Fell Out of My Seat.” Forbes, 19 July 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreypavlik/2018/07/19/federal-reserve-chair-powell-is-so-straightforward-i-almost-fell-out-of-my-chair/#5a54214e2719. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Timiraos, Nick, and David Harrison. “Mr. Ordinary: Who Is Jerome Powell, Trump’s Federal Reserve Pick?” The Wall Street Journal, 2 Nov. 2017, www.wsj.com/articles/mr-under-the-radar-jerome-powell-trumps-federal-reserve-pick-signals-continuity-1509643306. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
“US Fed Chair Jerome Powell Backs Cautious Path on Rates.” BBC, 24 Aug. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/business-45300759. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.