The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis announced the appointment of Alan Ekblad to the Bank’s Helena Branch board of directors. Ekblad’s appointment was effective Jan. 1, 2021.
Ekblad, executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO since 2011, was appointed by the Minneapolis Fed’s board of directors and will serve a three-year term. He is also the president of the AFL-CIO Western Council, where he represents 14 western state labor federations on the national general board.
Ekblad’s career in organized labor has spanned 33 years, including working as a union pipeline and highway laborer. He has served as director of the Great Falls Area Labor/Management Committee and worked as a union organizer for the Operating Engineers Local #400. Ekblad has a political science degree from Montana State University in Bozeman.
Ekblad succeeds Norma Nickerson, research professor and director, Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research in the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. Nickerson’s term ended on Dec. 31, 2020.
About the Helena Branch board of directors
Each branch of a Federal Reserve Bank has its own board of directors. Located in Helena, Montana, the Minneapolis Fed’s only branch has a five-member board. Its members share their perspectives on economic conditions with Bank leadership, and they also serve as liaisons between the Fed and their communities.
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.