Official portrait of Governor Jerome H. Powell. Mr. Powell took office on May 25, 2012, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31, 2014. For more information, visit http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/powell.htm

On Thursday, Nov. 2, President Donald Trump named Jerome Powell '75 as his pick to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. If confirmed, Powell will begin his term in early 2018, succeeding Janet Yellen, who was herself nominated in October 2013 to replace former University economics professor Ben Bernanke.

The Federal Reserve is the central bank for the United States, and Powell is currently one of four serving governors of the Federal Reserve system. He presently sits on the Federal Open Market Committee, the body of the Federal Reserve that most directly controls U.S. monetary policy by setting the federal funds rate through open market operations, such as by buying and selling U.S. Treasury bonds, used to calculate borrowing and interest rates nationwide.

Powell graduated from the Department of Politics, and is a former member of the advisory council for the University's Bendheim Center for Finance. He earned a J.D. from Georgetown University prior to working as a lawyer, investment banker, and Treasury undersecretary, before being nominated in 2011 to the Fed by then-President Barack Obama. In 2014, he was reconfirmed to his role as a Governor.