Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, is set to step down this week without a permanent successor.
George, who has been running the regional reserve bank since 2011, turned 65 earlier this monthtriggering the Fed’s mandatory retirement policy. His last day in office will be Tuesday, January 31.
Following her departure, the bank’s first vice president and chief operating officer, Kelly Dubbert, will become interim president and chief executive officer until a full-time replacement is hired, according to a statement posted on the bank’s website on Jan. 12.
Dubbert has worked at the Kansas City Fed since 1986. He joined the bank’s official staff in 1993 and has held various positions since then, including manager of its Oklahoma City branch and chief information officer. He took over his current role in 2012.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The January 12 statement noted that there will be no time constraints on the search for a new president.
“The Search Committee is evaluating candidates based on criteria included in the job description posted on the Kansas City Fed’s website,” the statement read. “Because the focus is on identifying the best candidate for this position, there is no deadline associated with this process.”
The reserve bank officially launched a search for George’s successor last May, when he convened a search committee and posted a job description. A Kansas City Fed spokesman declined to provide an update on the search process Monday afternoon.
The Fed has required reserve bank presidents to retire at age 65, with exceptions for those who have not yet served a full 10 years, for decades. Because of this, experts familiar with Fed practices say the search for a new chairman likely began months before last spring’s announcement.
Still, at eight months, the process for finding George’s full-time replacement has surpassed recent norms. Even for unexpected vacancies, when presidents left to take other government jobs or resigned amid scandal, making a new hire typically takes just six months, according to data compiled by University of Pennsylvania researcher Kaleb Nygaard.
The only longer hiring process was San Francisco’s 2010 search to replace Janet Yellen, who left to join the Fed’s Board of Governors in Washington. That process spanned 10 months, and John Williams, now president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, was ultimately chosen for the job.
The length of the Kansas City Fed’s search also contrasts with the recent effort by the Chicago Fed to replace retiring chairman Charles Evans, which concluded on December 1 when the bank Austan Goolsbee named former White House economic adviser for work. Evans and George share the same birthday, which means their institutions faced the exact same deadline.
However, there was a key distinction between the two institutions: The Chicago Federal Reserve has a voting seat on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy at the central bank. George held one voting seat last year, meaning his successor will not have a vote until 2025.
The search for a new president comes at a tumultuous time for the Kansas City Fed as it is embroiled in heated litigation with Custodia Bank. The Cheyenne, Wyoming-based digital asset bank is suing the reserve bank and the Board of Governors over access to the so-called master account, which comes with access to the Federal Reserve’s payment system.
Last week, the Kansas City Fed Escrow rejected master account application and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, actions that are likely to intensify the already controversial dispute. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in November.
The Kansas City Fed, which oversees the largely rural 10th Fed district, also came under congressional scrutiny for granting, then revoking, a master account to the Reserve Trust, a Greenwood-based digital asset trust. Village, Colorado. While the lead architect of that investigation, then-Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., retired Since then, top Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee such as Tim Scott, RS.C., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., have signaled their intention to bring the ring to the effort in the 118th Congress.
George’s retirement ends a four-decade tenure at the Kansas City Fed that saw her top roles in oversight and risk management, research management, public affairs and human resources before becoming first vice president in 2009 and president in 2011.
His successor will be chosen by the bank’s five-member search committee, but the Fed’s Board of Governors must approve the selection.
