For immediate release: Feb. 8, 2007
ATLANTA—Dennis P. Lockhart will become president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta effective March 1, 2007, announced Larkin Martin, chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Lockhart, 60, succeeds Jack Guynn, who retired from the Atlanta Fed on Oct. 1, 2006.
Lockhart is currently a faculty member of Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. In the master's program there, he chairs concentrations in International Business–Government Relations and Global Commerce and Finance. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the economics department at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, where he teaches a course in international business.
"We are very pleased that Dennis Lockhart will be joining the Atlanta Fed as its president and chief executive," said Martin, who is also managing partner of Martin Farm in Courtland, Ala. "Dennis is a seasoned and versatile leader, bringing with him a wealth of experience in banking, finance and international business. He also has significant experience leading large, diverse organizations as well as experience in academia. All of his background will serve him well as he leads the Bank forward and helps shape important decisions relating to the nation's economy and financial system."
From 1971 to 1988, Lockhart held a variety of international and domestic positions with Citibank/Citicorp (now Citigroup), including assignments in the Middle East, Latin America, New York and Atlanta. While in Atlanta between 1978 and 1986, he served as Citibank's senior corporate officer for the Southeast and was active in educational and civic affairs. From 1988 to 2001, he served as president of Heller International Group Inc. Following that service, Lockhart was managing partner at the private equity firm Zephyr Management in New York City.
Lockhart currently serves as chairman of the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, a not-for-profit operator of emerging markets venture capital funds focused on the small and mid-sized company sector. He also serves on three for-profit corporate boards. He will resign from these involvements as he joins the Bank. (See his biography for additional information.)
Commenting on his selection, Lockhart said, "The Federal Reserve and the Reserve Banks are vital contributors to our nation's economic and financial success. I'm very excited about the opportunity to return to the Atlanta area and to work with the Bank's well-respected staff in advancing the excellent reputation this organization has built over many years. In my role as president of the Atlanta Reserve Bank, I also look forward to confronting the challenges the Federal Reserve faces in today's increasingly global and rapidly changing economy."
Lockhart earned a bachelor's degree in political science and economics at Stanford University and a master's degree in international economics and American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He also attended the senior executive program at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As president of the Atlanta Fed, Lockhart will lead one of the 12 regional Reserve Banks, which, with the Board of Governors, make up the Federal Reserve System, the nation's central bank. The Atlanta Fed is responsible for the Sixth Federal Reserve District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida and Georgia and portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. As its key functions, the Atlanta Fed participates in setting national monetary policy, supervises numerous banking organizations, and provides a variety of payment services to financial institutions and the U.S. government. Lockhart will have overall responsibility for these functions and will represent the Sixth Federal Reserve District at meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee, the policymaking body within the Federal Reserve that sets monetary policy for the nation.
