Esther L. George President & CEO Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Economic Club of Minnesota

As CEO and president of the Kansas City Fed, George leads a workforce of more than 1,900 employees located at the Bank’s Kansas City office and Branch offices in Denver, Oklahoma City and Omaha. The Kansas City Fed oversees seven states: western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and northern New Mexico. Throughout this region, the Kansas City Fed plays a role in national monetary policy, supervises financial institutions and provides payment and financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. Treasury.

George joined the Fed in 1982 and served much of her career in the Division of Supervision and Risk Management. She began by becoming a commissioned bank examiner and eventually served for ten years as the District’s chief regulator. She was directly involved in the Tenth District’s banking supervision and discount window lending activities during the banking crisis of the 1980s and post-9/11.

During the financial crisis, George served as the acting director of the Federal Reserve's Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. She currently serves as the executive sponsor of the Federal Reserve System’s efforts to improve the U.S. payments system.

George hosts the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. In 2019, she will be a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which is responsible for setting U.S. monetary policy.