The Minneapolis Fed formed a search committee to conduct a rigorous, international search to identify a broad, diverse, highly qualified candidate pool for this position. In addition, the search firm Bridge Partners was hired to assist in the process.
Wright’s appointment was made by the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
“Mark is an outstanding economist with experience in both premier universities and policy institutions and has made significant research contributions throughout his career. His academic record, combined with his keen interest in public policy and his leadership qualities, will make him an ideal leader for our Research Department, which is one of the most prestigious economic research groups in the country. I am delighted that he has decided to join us, and I look forward to working with him,” said Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Wright is currently serving as a senior economist and research advisor in the economic research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His research examines the macroeconomics of developing countries, with a specific focus on their tendency to be prone to international financial crises. Much of his recent work has been devoted to sovereign default and the process by which sovereign debts are restructured.
Prior to joining the Chicago Fed, Wright was an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an assistant professor at Stanford University. Wright has been an economist and advisor to the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco and Minneapolis and an instructor at the I.M.F. Institute. He is currently a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of International Economics, Economics Letters and the Journal of Monetary Economics.
Wright received a bachelor of economics degree from the University of Sydney, Australia, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the Federal Reserve System, the nation’s central bank. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is responsible for the Ninth Federal Reserve District, which includes Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis participates in setting national monetary policy, supervises numerous banking organizations, and provides a variety of payments services to financial institutions and the U.S. government.