Thomas J. Cunningham has been named vice president and associate director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, announced Jack Guynn, president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Fed. Guynn also announced that John C. Robertson has been named assistant vice president and leader of the regional team for the Atlanta Fed's research department. The effective date of both appointments is Aug. 1.
Cunningham will assume administrative responsibilities for the research department, including planning, budgeting and personnel as well as oversight of the Atlanta Fed's Economic Review. Cunningham replaces B. Frank King, who is retiring after serving as vice president and associate director of research for 16 years and has been with the Atlanta Fed's research department since 1969. Prior to his promotion, Cunningham served as a vice president in charge of the research department's regional and Latin American research groups.
Cunningham joined the bank as an economist with the macropolicy group in 1985. He was promoted to senior economist in 1989 and to research officer and senior economist with responsibility for the regional group in 1992. Cunningham previously worked as an instructor at Barnard College at Columbia University. He received a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in economics from California State University, Fresno. He earned a master's degree, a master of philosophy and a doctorate in economics from Columbia University. He attended the executive development program at Wharton.
Robertson assumes responsibility for the regional and Latin American research groups at the Atlanta Fed. Prior to his promotion, he was a senior economist and policy adviser on the macropolicy group. Robertson joined the Atlanta Fed in 1998 from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Robertson is a member of the Econometric Society and the American Economic Association. A native of Dunedin, New Zealand, Robertson holds a bachelor's and a master's degree with first class honors from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He earned his doctorate in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1992.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta serves the Sixth Federal Reserve District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia and sections of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. As part of the nation's central banking system, the Atlanta Fed participates in setting national monetary policy, supervises numerous commercial banks and provides a variety of financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. government.