A significant leadership shuffle at the Federal Reserve is continuing, as Atlanta Fed President Raphael W. Bostic has announced his retirement, effective in February. This departure creates a new vacancy on the Fed’s critical Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets monetary policy for the world’s largest economy.
Bostic’s exit follows the resignation of Fed Governor Adriana Kugler in August, whose seat was then filled on an interim basis by Stephen Miran, a top adviser to President Trump. This recent turnover comes as the central bank navigates an aggressive pressure campaign from the Trump administration, which has been demanding lower interest rates and challenging the Fed’s autonomy.
The 12-member FOMC is comprised of the seven Fed governors, the president of the New York Fed, and four of the remaining eleven regional Fed presidents, who serve on a rotating basis. Bostic’s departure means a key regional perspective will be absent from policy debates until a replacement is found.
Unlike the governors, who are presidential appointees, Bostic’s successor will not be chosen by the White House. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has announced it will conduct a nationwide search for its next president, a process handled internally by the regional bank’s board.
Bostic, 59, was a trailblazer, serving as the first African American and openly gay president of a regional Fed bank. “I’m proud of what we accomplished during my tenure,” Bostic said, referencing the goal of “an economy that works for everyone.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell praised Bostic’s “steady voice” and “perspective” as invaluable to the FOMC’s deliberations.