This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Washington • Raphael W. Bostic, a former Obama administration housing official, has been selected as the new president of Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, becoming the first African-American to head one of the Fed's 12 regional banks.
The Atlanta Fed says that Bostic, 50, currently a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, will take over in June. He succeeds Dennis Lockhart, who retired last month.
During the Obama administration, Bostic served from 2009 to 2012 as an assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Atlanta Fed covers Georgia, Alabama, Florida and portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Fed Up, a coalition that has been pushing for more diversity among Fed policymakers, hailed the selection of Bostic as an "exceptionally qualified economist."