Beginning on Jan. 1, 2018, Kendall J. Powell became board chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Harry Melander now serves as deputy chair, and Srilata Zaheer is a new Class C Director, serving a three year term. Only Class C directors may hold the role of board chair. With the change from a Class B to Class C director, Zaheer is now eligible to be board chair.

Zaheer, dean and Elmer L. Andersen Chair in Global Corporate Social Responsibility of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, has served as a Class B director at the Bank since Jan. 1, 2017, and was recently appointed by the Board of Governors to the Class C position. Zaheer joined the University in 1991 as an assistant professor after earning her Ph.D. at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Zaheer’s civic leadership includes serving as a director for numerous nonprofit organizations in the Ninth District, including the Greater Twin Cities United Way and the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency for the Mayo Clinic.

Powell is chairman and former chief executive officer of General Mills Inc. in Minneapolis. He has been on the Fed board since 2014 and also serves as vice chair of the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents as well as on the board of directors for Medtronic, Greater MSP and the Minnesota Business Partnership.

Melander is president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council in St. Paul. He has been on the Fed board since 2016 and is also a member of the Metropolitan Council.

Zaheer succeeds director MayKao Y. Hang, president and CEO of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in St. Paul. Hang served two three-year terms as a Class C director and was board chair in 2016 and 2017. Hang’s term ended Dec. 31, 2017.

About the Board of Directors

Minneapolis Fed directors are selected to represent a cross section of the Ninth District economy, including consumers, industry, agriculture, the service sector, labor and commercial banks of various sizes. Pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis board has nine members, with three Class A directors representing the member banks and three each of Class B and C directors, selected to represent the public with “due but not exclusive consideration to the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor, and consumers.”  The Class A and B directors are elected by member banks, and the Class C directors are appointed by the Board of Governors, which also designates the board’s chair and deputy chair from among its three appointees.

The responsibilities of directors are broad, ranging from overseeing the general operations of the Minneapolis Fed to reporting on district economic conditions. This information helps prepare the Minneapolis Fed president for participation in Federal Open Market Committee meetings, where decisions are made about monetary policy.

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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.