For immediate release Jan. 24, 2002
David M. Ratcliffe, president and chief executive officer of Georgia Power Company and executive vice president of Southern Company; Egbert L.J. Perry, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of The Integral Group LLC; and James F. Beall, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Centre, Ala., have joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s board of directors. Suzanne E. Boas, president of Consumer Credit Counseling Service Inc., has been reelected to a second consecutive term on the Atlanta Fed’s board of directors. Their terms began in January 2002 and run through December 2004.
Before Ratcliffe’s appointment as president of Georgia Power in June 1999, he was executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer for the company. From 1995 to 1998, Ratcliffe served as senior vice president of external affairs for Southern Company. Before his appointment in 1995, he was president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Power Company. Ratcliffe received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Valdosta State College and a law degree from Woodrow Wilson College of Law. He is a member of the board of directors of the Mississippi Chemical Corporation, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Research Alliance. He is also chairman of the board of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.
Perry founded The Integral Group in 1992. Integral specializes in real estate development, construction and property and asset management. The company is involved in major urban mixed-use and mixed-income projects in Atlanta and in other cities in Georgia, as well as Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Memphis, Birmingham and Denver. Before founding Integral, Perry was president of H.J. Russell & Company. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Atlanta International School, the University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the National Housing Center, the Herndon Foundation and the advisory council for the Trust for Public Land. He received bachelor and master of science degrees in civil engineering with honors from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received a master of business administration degree in finance and accounting from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Beall has served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Centre, Ala., since 1993. He served as vice chairman of the board of National Bank of Commerce of Birmingham, Ala., from 1985 to 1993 and president of MetroBank of Birmingham from 1974 to 1985. Beall is a member of the American Bankers Association’s Investment Advisory Committee and the Government Relations Council. He is also involved with the Alabama Bankers Association. Previously, he served as treasurer and a board member of the American Bankers Association. He received his bachelor’s degree in commerce and business administration from the University of Alabama, and he attended the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.
Boas is president of Consumer Credit Counseling Service Inc. Before joining Consumer Credit Counseling Service, Boas served as vice president of credit and consumer affairs for Macy’s South in Atlanta. She has held positions at Aetna Life and Casualty Company and the Bankers Trust Company. Boas is a member of the board of directors of CHRIS Homes, and she is a member of the advisory board of the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. She also serves on the creditor relations committee and bankruptcy task force for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Boas is a graduate of Sweetbriar College in Amherst, Va.
Each of the nation’s 12 Federal Reserve Banks has a nine-member board of directors. Three Class A directors represent national and state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System and are elected by member banks. Three Class B directors are elected by these banks but represent commerce, industry, agriculture, labor and consumers. Three Class C directors represent the same broad array of public interests but are appointed by the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. The Reserve Bank’s chairman and deputy chairman are Class C directors. Beall is a Class A director, Boas and Perry are class B directors, and Ratcliffe is a Class C director.
The board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta oversees the management of the bank’s operations. Board members also contribute to the formulation of U.S. monetary policy through the economic information they provide the bank’s president and by recommending changes in the discount rate.