Toby:

Cleveland Fed directors hail from large businesses and small businesses and represent the community, labor interests, consumers, and banks. We have 3 boards: our main board in Cleveland and our branch boards in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. In total, it’s 23 people, each of whom has a different background and perspective. When we put these all together, like the old adage, the sum is greater than its parts.

During monthly board meetings, directors contribute to the Federal Reserve’s understanding of the economy by giving perspectives on economic conditions. Everyone participates. It’s a respectful environment, and no one hesitates to challenge someone’s point of view. It’s a robust conversation.

As a participant on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), our president, Loretta Mester, takes these perspectives along with insights gathered through our other advisory councils to the FOMC meetings in DC 8 times a year, where she shares our region’s experience of the economy (the Cleveland Fed’s District comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, the northern panhandle of West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky). By virtue of the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of our directors and other business contacts across the Federal Reserve System, the discussions at the FOMC meetings contain a mosaic of economic information and analysis from all parts of the country.

All of this information is going to be used to help formulate monetary policy, so that range of views is very important.