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Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are asking President Obama to nominate Wall Street outsiders to a pair of vacancies on the central bank's board of governors.
November 18 -
It's not clear there's time left in the legislative calendar for President Obama to fill the final two slots on the Federal Reserve Board this year, raising questions about what happens to those seats after the elections.
September 12
WASHINGTON The White House announced Tuesday that it will nominate academic and former community banker Allan Landon to one of the two vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board.
In making the announcement, President Obama highlighted Landon's previous roles as a chief executive officer of two community banks.
"Allan Landon has the proven experience, judgment and deep knowledge of the financial system to serve at the Federal Reserve during this important time for our economy, " Obama said in a press release. "He brings decades of leadership and expertise from various roles, particularly as a community banker. I'm confident that he will serve our country well."
Landon, who currently serves as a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Mãnoa Law School, previously served as CEO of the Bank of Hawaii Corp. from 2004 to 2010. The Bank of Hawaii Corp. manages $14.5 billion in total assets, according to its third-quarter 2014 financial statement.
Prior to heading the bank, Landon held various positions in its upper management beginning in 2001, according to his official biography. Landon also served as chief financial officer of First American Corp. from 1998 to 2000 and as a partner of Ernst & Young from 1984 to 1998.
Landon, a relative unknown in Washington, will fill one of two vacancies that have been open on the Fed Board since former Gov. Jeremy Stein resigned to return to Harvard University. Former Gov. Sarah Bloom left the board last March to serve as Deputy Treasury Secretary.
His nomination was welcomed by the Independent Community Bankers of America, which had been pressuring the White House to appoint someone to the Fed with community banking experience.
"Having someone with community bank experience, such as Landon, on the board will ensure that community bank interests are more fully understood as the board considers the impact of its policies on smaller banks and the communities and rural areas they serve," said Camden Fine, president of the group, in a press release.
Several lawmakers from both parties had also urged the White House to use at least one of the vacancies to nominate someone with community banking experience. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last November calling on the White House to nominate "Wall Street outsiders" to fill the board's vacancies. Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., likewise called for greater community banking experience to be reflected in the White House's nominations to the Fed.
