(Bloomberg) -- The board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said it had begun searching for a successor to President Patrick Harker, whose tenure at the bank is set to end on June 30, 2025.
“We will run an open and inclusive nationwide search including broad input from the Third District community,” the board’s chair, Anthony Ibarguen, said in a statement Wednesday. “Our goal is to find a new leader who will carry on President Harker’s service to our communities and commitment to promoting a strong US economy.”
By law, presidents at the Fed’s 12 regional banks are required to retire at age 65 or when they reach 10 years of service, whichever comes later. Harker, who is 65, took office in July 2015.
The search for a new regional Fed bank president is conducted by its directors, excluding those affiliated with regulated financial institutions. Five other Philadelphia Fed board members will join Ibarguen on the search committee. Their choice for a new president must be approved by the Fed’s Board of Governors in Washington.
The bank has retained the executive search firm Spencer Stuart to help identify candidates.
Over the past decade, the time it takes to select a new regional Fed president has increased by roughly one-third. The appointment of Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid in August 2023 was announced 14 months after his predecessor said she’d retire, the longest search this century. By contrast, Dallas’ search in 2004 and New York’s in 2009 took less than two months.
There are several reasons for the longer searches, according to people involved in the process and public documents. Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed governors in Washington are more involved in the selection process, and financial disclosure rules have toughened. Congress has also pressured the Fed to increase diversity and sparred with it over transparency, raising the political stakes for the appointments.
The president of the Philly Fed will next have a vote on the interest-rate setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2026.
(Updates with additional details from third paragraph.)
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