ST LOUIS (TN Tribune) — The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis recently announced
that Alberto G. Musalem will be its next president and chief executive officer. In this
role, Musalem will represent the Eighth Federal Reserve District in national monetary
policymaking on the Federal Open Market Committee and will lead the 1,500
employees of the St. Louis Fed. He will begin his role on April 2, 2024.
“Alberto will be an outstanding president and CEO of the St. Louis Fed,” said St. Louis
Fed Director Carolyn Chism Hardy, president and CEO of Chism Hardy Investments
LLC in Bartlett, Tenn., and deputy chair of the Bank’s search committee. “As an
experienced economist, former Federal Reserve leader, collaborator and
communicator, he comes with the exceptional technical expertise and leadership
abilities needed to contribute to effective policymaking and advance a large
organization in service to the public. Alberto is a mission-focused leader, and I am
confident he will work tirelessly to promote a healthy economy for all in representing
the diverse views of the constituents across the Fed’s Eighth District.”
Musalem has more than 27 years of public and private sector experience in economic
policy, finance and markets. Most recently, he was CEO, co-chief investment officer
and co-founder of Evince Asset Management, a quantitative investment technology
company. Prior to Evince, he was executive vice president and senior advisor to the
president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he was head of integrated
policy analysis, international a[airs and a member of the Bank’s Management
Committee. Prior to the New York Fed, he was managing director, partner and global
head of research at Tudor Investment Corporation focusing on the interaction of
economic policy, macroeconomic performance and markets. As an economist at the
International Monetary Fund, he worked with IMF teams and country authorities on
monetary policy and inflation targeting frameworks, fiscal responsibility rules and
banking systems during the emerging market crises of the late 1990s.
He is an adjunct professor of finance at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of
Business and serves on the boards of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
(Freddie Mac) and Man Group. He will step down from these positions before taking
office. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of
New York. Previously, he served as chair and director of School the World, a nonprofit
committed to solving extreme poverty through education. More information about his
professional experience can be found in his bio.
Musalem earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his
master’s and bachelor’s degrees in economics from the London School of Economics
and Political Science. He was born in Bogota, Colombia, and lived in Brazil and
Argentina before emigrating to the U.S. and graduating from Maryland’s public
school system.
“I am deeply honored to serve as the next president of the St. Louis Fed and grateful
for the opportunity to promote a strong, resilient and inclusive economy,” Musalem
said. “I look forward to engaging with the people and communities of the
Eighth Federal Reserve District to represent this part of the country at the monetary
policy table. I am thrilled to lead the outstanding St. Louis Fed team in our service to
the district and the nation as a fiscal agent for the U.S. Treasury, supervisor of
financial institutions, research engine and innovator. I am eager to get started.”
Musalem, age 55, will be the 13th president of the St. Louis Fed. He succeeds Jim
Bullard, who resigned from his role in July 2023 after 15 years as the St. Louis Fed’s
president and CEO to become dean of the business school at Purdue University.
Musalem will fulfill the remainder of Bullard’s current five-year term that began on
March 1, 2021, and ends on Feb. 28, 2026, at which time Musalem will be considered
for reappointment under a process established by the Federal Reserve Board of
Governors for all Reserve bank presidents. Until his April 2nd start date, St. Louis Fed
First Vice President Kathy O’Neill will continue to serve as interim president and CEO.
As president of the St. Louis Fed, Musalem will rotate with other regional Reserve bank
presidents as a voting member on the FOMC. He will participate in FOMC meetings
upon his start date and will be a voting member in 2025.
The Search Process
Musalem’s appointment follows an extensive national search process, consistent with
the Federal Reserve Act and policy of the Board of Governors. The search process
launched in July 2023 with the formation of a search committee composed of the six
non-banking directors of the Bank’s board of directors. The search committee was
chaired by Jim McKelvey, founder and CEO of Invisibly Inc. and 2023 chair of the
St. Louis Fed board; McKelvey’s board term ended Dec. 31, 2023. Chism Hardy, 2023
deputy chair of the Bank’s board, served as deputy chair of the search committee.
Other members of the search committee included Lal Karsanbhai, president and CEO
of Emerson Electric Co.; Andrew Clyde, president and CEO of Murphy USA Inc.; Penny
Pennington, managing partner, Edward Jones; and Michael Ugwueke, president and
CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
Committed to a process that was robust, transparent, fair and inclusive, the search
committee sought input from a wide range of internal and external audiences on the
key attributes desired in a new leader and on potential prospects. The search
committee also ensured that the Bank had a comprehensive communications program
in place to provide broad-based public awareness of the search, understanding of how
the search process worked and information on how to apply. A broad and diverse
candidate pool was considered. After several rounds of interviews, the search
committee agreed unanimously on its selection, which, by law, then went to the Board
of Governors for approval. More information about the search process, including the
job profile, can be found on the St. Louis Fed’s website.
About the St. Louis Fed
Headquartered in St. Louis, with branches in Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis, the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis serves the states that make up the Federal Reserve’s
Eighth District, which includes all of Arkansas, eastern Missouri, southern Indiana,
southern Illinois, western Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. The
St. Louis Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve banks that, along with the Board of
Governors in Washington, D.C., constitute the Federal Reserve System. As the nation’s
central bank, the Federal Reserve System formulates U.S. monetary policy, regulates
state-chartered member banks and bank holding companies, provides payment
services to financial institutions and the U.S. government, and promotes financial
literacy, economic education and community development.
Alberto G. Musalem is the incoming president and CEO of the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, one of the 12 regional Reserve
banks in the Federal Reserve System. He begins his post on April 2,
2024. In this capacity, he will participate on the Federal Reserve’s
Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, which meets at least
eight times each year to set the direction of U.S. monetary policy. He
will also oversee the activities of the Eighth Federal Reserve District
at its St. Louis headquarters and branches in Little Rock, Ark.,
Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn., including economic research,
fiscal agent responsibilities for the U.S. Treasury, supervisor of District financial
institutions, community development, and regional payments, transparency,
technology and support functions.
He is an economist and executive with public and private sector experience in
economic policy, finance and markets.
Musalem served as CEO and co-chief investment officer of Evince Asset Management
LP (2018-’22), a quantitative investment technology company that he co-founded in
2018. He executed on the company’s business and investment strategies, product
development, stakeholder engagement, culture, resource alignment, planning and
evaluation.
From 2014-’17, he served as executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York and senior advisor to the president. He led the Integrated Policy Analysis
Group and the Emerging Markets and International Affairs Group, served on the
Bank’s Management Committee and represented the New York Fed on the Committee
on the Global Financial System (CGFS) of the Bank of International Settlements.
Musalem served as managing director, partner and global head of Research of Tudor
Investment Corporation (2000-’13), where he was a member of the firm’s Management,
Capital Allocation and Strategy committees and worked with diverse groups of
portfolio managers, globally and across asset classes, on investment strategies
grounded on the relation between economic policy, macroeconomic performance and
markets.
Earlier in his career, Musalem served as economist at the International Monetary
Fund, working closely with IMF teams and authorities in several countries on
monetary policy and inflation targeting frameworks, fiscal responsibility rules and
banking systems during the emerging market crises of the late 1990s.
He is an adjunct professor of finance at Georgetown University’s McDonough School
of Business and serves on the boards of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
(Freddie Mac) and Man Group. He will step down from these positions before taking
office. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of
New York. Previously, he served as chair and director of School the World, a nonprofit
committed to solving extreme poverty through education.
Musalem earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He also
holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in economics from the London School of
Economics and Political Science.
Musalem was born in Bogota, Colombia, and lived in Brazil and Argentina before
emigrating to the U.S. and graduating from the public school system in Maryland.
