Kansas City Fed names veteran banker and regulator as chief

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City appointed a longtime banker and bank regulator its new president to replace Esther George, who retired in January, continuing a history of naming former financial supervisors to lead the bank.

Jeffrey R. Schmid, president and chief executive officer of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking Foundation at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, will assume George’s former role on Aug. 21.

The timing means the new president would be in place just before the Kansas City Fed’s annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has become the central bank’s most prominent annual conference.  

The decision ends the longest search for a Fed president this century, which began in May 2022 with George’s announcement of retirement at the mandatory age of 65. It lasted more than twice as long as the median search lasting six months.

Schmid has more than 40 years of banking and regulatory experience, including positions at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and in leading the establishment of Mutual of Omaha Bank, where he served as chairman and CEO. He is a native of Nebraska.

“Jeff’s perspective as a native Nebraskan, his broad experience in banking, and his deep roots in our region will be an incredible asset to the Federal Reserve, both as a leader of the organization and in his role as a monetary policymaker,” said María Griego-Raby, who, as deputy chair of the bank’s board of directors, led its search committee.  

Schmid is 64. Federal Reserve rules state that presidents initially appointed after 55 can, at the option of a reserve bank’s board of directors, be permitted to serve until attaining 10 years of service in the office or age 75, whichever comes first.

As head of the SW Graduate School of Banking Foundation since 2021, Schmid has helped train future banking executives at the institution, which has provided courses for the industry since 1957. 

The program has become the “go-to” among bankers in Texas who are going into management, said Independent Bankers Association of Texas CEO Christopher Williston VI. 

In teaching, Schmid often calls upon his own experiences as a banker, Williston said in an interview. 

“Jeff is a phenomenal leader — visionary, thoughtful, inclusive,” said Williston, who sits on the foundation’s board of trustees.

Filling posts
The latest move fills a second Fed president opening this year. The Chicago Fed appointed Austan Goolsbee, an economist and former adviser to President Barack Obama, as its new president to replace Charles Evans, who also retired in January.

The Fed system has come under pressure from advocates in Congress including US Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, to appoint a Latino American to its leadership ranks. While the central bank has made strides toward more diverse leadership this year — including naming Susan Collins as the first Black woman to lead a Fed bank, in Boston — none of the regional reserve banks has ever had a Latino president.

A 2022 voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, George has been considered a hawk supportive of higher rates to counter inflation during much of her tenure, though in the past year her moderate tone has put her near the center of policymakers. The Kansas City Fed’s next scheduled year to vote is 2025.

—With assistance from Amanda Albright.