March FOMC meeting: assessment and outlook for US monetary policy

Esther George

President

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (2011-23)

Esther L. George was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and a member of the Federal Open Market Committee from 2011 to 2023. Her Fed service spans more than 40 years including considerable experience as a bank supervisor.  In 2009, she served as the Federal Reserve’s acting director of Banking Supervision and Regulation in Washington D.C.

George was actively involved in the Federal Reserve’s work to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the nation’s payment system, including leading the effort to establish instant retail payments known as the FedNow Service.  She hosted the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.

As president and chief executive officer, she led a workforce of 2,100 Federal Reserve employees serving the seven states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District through the Bank’s headquarters in Kansas City and its branch offices in Denver, Oklahoma City and Omaha.

George is a recipient of the 2023 Harry S. Truman Public Service award.  She currently serves as chair of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and on the boards of the Hallmark Corporation, Peterson Institute for International Economics, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, American Public Square, and the Kansas City 2026 World Cup.

Mark Sobel

Vice Chair and Chief Economist

OMFIF

Mark Sobel is Chief Economist and Vice Chair at OMFIF. Mark is a veteran US Treasury official, who was at the forefront of international financial diplomacy for two decades.

Mark, who represented the US on the International Monetary Fund executive board up to April 2018, has had a 40-year Treasury career with extensive around-the-world engagement.

He works with OMFIF in dealings with private and public sector organisations, speak regularly on international and US policy, and provide OMFIF members with insight and analysis.

Mark was Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for international monetary and financial policy between 2000 and early 2015. He helped lead Treasury preparations for G7 and G20 finance minister and central bank governor meetings, formulated US positions at the IMF, and coordinated Treasury and regulatory agencies’ work in the Financial Stability Board.

Mark founded the US/EU Financial Market Regulatory Dialogue and chaired an international group of private and official sovereign debt experts that developed enhanced collective action clauses for sovereign debt restructuring. He managed the $100bn-plus Treasury Exchange Stabilization Fund and played a key role in US foreign exchange policy including coordinating the Treasury’s semi-annual foreign exchange report on China and other countries.

David Wilcox

Director of US Economic Research

Bloomberg