Jack Guynn, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, today announced that Robert A. Eisenbeis will become senior vice president and director of research of the Bank on May 15. Eisenbeis is currently Wachovia Professor of Banking and Associate Dean for Research at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"Bob Eisenbeis brings to the job a wealth of experience and a strong reputation arising from his past work on economic, bank structure, bank regulatory, and payments system issues," Guynn said in making the announcement. "The breadth and depth of his experience will help our Bank build on the major contribution we are already making to research and debate on important public policy issues."
Eisenbeis is widely published in the field of economics, banking, and finance, and has coauthored five books on banking, contributed chapters to more than 10 others, and published numerous articles in such scholarly publications as the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking. He has also published a number of articles in trade journals and other publications. He currently serves as executive editor of the Journal of Financial Services Research and is or has been on the editorial boards of eight journals.
In addition to his 14-year association with the University of North Carolina, Eisenbeis has long been active with various professional organizations, particularly the Financial Management Association. He has also been involved in public policy, having worked at both the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He has also testified frequently before Congress regarding proposed banking legislation and on such matters as deposit insurance and the condition of the U.S. banking system.
A graduate of Brown University, Eisenbeis earned a masters and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining the University of North Carolina faculty, he worked at the Board of Governors from 1967-68 and from 1976-81. While there, his assignments included heading up the financial studies and financial structure sections of the division of research and statistics. He also was on the staff of the FDIC from 1968 to 1976 and during that period served as assistant director of research and chief of financial and economic research.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta serves the Sixth Federal Reserve District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. As part of the nation's central banking system, the Atlanta Fed takes part in setting national monetary policy, supervises and regulates commercial banks, and provides check processing and other payments services to depository institutions and the U.S. government.