Federal Reserve Board: Current and Historical Membership (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Oct. 17, 2024 |
| Report Number |
R48233 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Ben Leubsdorf |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Federal Reserve (Fed), the U.S. central bank, is led by a seven-member Board of Governors
based in Washington, DC.
The President appoints governors for 14-year terms with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Governors can be appointed to one full term. They often fill the remaining years of unexpired
terms and may then be reappointed to a full term.
The board is led by a chair, who serves a four-year term separate from and concurrent with their term as a governor. The vice
chair and vice chair for supervision also serve four-year terms. These appointments are subject to Senate approval.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in its current form began operating in 1936. Its predecessor, a Federal
Reserve Board, which was led by a governor (rather than a chair), began operating in 1914. That earlier iteration included the
Secretary of the Treasury and Comptroller of the Currency as ex officio members in addition to members appointed by the
President and confirmed by the Senate.
The current chair is Jerome Powell, whose term as chair ends in 2026. The current vice chair is Philip Jefferson, whose term
as vice chair ends in 2027. The current vice chair for supervision is Michael Barr, whose term as vice chair for supervision
ends in 2026. The other incumbent governors are Michelle Bowman, Lisa Cook, Adriana Kugler, and Christopher Waller.
The board has been at full strength since September 13, 2023, after the number of vacant seats peaked in 2018 at four.
The “Historical Membership” section of this report contains a list and count of Fed appointments by President since 1936, a
demographic breakdown for board members, calculations for lengths of service on the board and as chair, and calculations
for periods since 1980 when the board has operated at full strength (no vacancies). It includes two graphics, a scatterplot
visualizing the length of service for all board members since the Fed’s creation, and a timeline showing vacancies at any
given time since roughly 1980. Both graphics are interactive in the HTML version of this report.
For a broader overview of the Fed and its role, see CRS In Focus IF10054, Introduction to Financial Services: The Federal
Reserve, by Marc Labonte.
