WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has named a new Public Governor – Charles I. Plosser, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia – to its Board of Governors.
Dr. Plosser has had a long and distinguished career, most recently as the President and CEO of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank from 2006 to his retirement in 2015. During his term as president, Dr. Plosser and his colleagues faced the challenges of a global financial crisis followed by a severe recession. The Federal Reserve took unprecedented actions, in both monetary policy and in its lending operations intended to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis and promote economic growth. As a member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) contemplating these actions, he stressed the need to preserve the Federal Reserve's independence and structure by drawing a distinct line between fiscal and monetary policy.
In the aftermath of the crisis, as financial regulatory reform was being debated, Dr. Plosser argued that reform must end the notion that any firm is considered too big to fail or risk sowing the seeds of the next financial crisis. He has also been a long-time advocate of the Federal Reserve adopting an explicit inflation target, which the FOMC adopted in January 2012.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Plosser was the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Policy and director of the Bradley Policy Research Center at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, where he also served as dean from 1993 to 2003. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition, Dr. Plosser has been a visiting scholar at the Bank of England and was the co-editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics for 20 years.
Over the years, Dr. Plosser has served as a consultant to numerous corporations on topics such as strategic planning and forecasting, portfolio and pension fund management, capital budgeting, and financial analysis. He was a member of the New York State Board of Economic Advisors and served on the board of directors of ViaHealth, Inc. and RGS Energy Group, Inc. He also served on the advisory boards of the New Enterprise Forum and the University Technology Seed Fund LLC. He earned a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in 1970 and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, in 1972 and 1976 respectively.
"On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Charles. His valuable expertise and depth of experience will help guide FINRA forward in its mission to ensure the integrity of our markets and protect the investing public," said Richard Ketchum, FINRA's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
FINRA is overseen by a 24-person Board of Governors, with 13 seats held by public Governors and 10 by industry Governors. FINRA's CEO has the remaining seat. FINRA Governors are appointed or elected to three-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms.
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business – from registering and educating all industry participants to examining securities firms, writing rules, enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws, informing and educating the investing public, providing trade reporting and other industry utilities, and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and firms. For more information, please visit www.finra.org.