Eric S. Rosengren
Eric S. Rosengren | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 3, 1957 Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Economist |
| Years active | 1985–2021 |
| Known for | Thirteenth president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (2007–2021) |
Eric S. Rosengren (born June 3, 1957) held the position of the thirteenth president and CEO at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from July 20, 2007, until September 30, 2021. In his role as a Federal Reserve president, he participated as a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. He stepped down due to a kidney-related health issue.
Early life and education
Rosengren was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey into a family with Swedish immigrant roots. He earned his B.A. in economics summa cum laude from Colby College. Afterward, he spent a year in Melbourne, Australia under a Thomas Watson Fellowship before pursuing graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he obtained an M.S. in 1984 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1986.
Career
Beginning his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1985 as an economist, Rosengren progressed through multiple leadership roles: Assistant Vice President (1989), Vice President and head of Banking and Monetary Policy (1991), Senior Vice President overseeing Supervision and Regulation (2000), Chief Discount Officer (2003), and Executive Vice President (2005). His regulatory expertise notably included work related to the Basel II Capital Accord.
His scholarly work extensively examined the connections between financial sector issues and the broader economy, authoring more than 100 publications on topics such as macroeconomics, banking supervision, and risk management. During his tenure as Boston Fed president, he enhanced engagement with low- and moderate-income populations through programs like foreclosure-prevention workshops amid the Great Recession and the Working Cities Challenge, which encouraged multi-sector partnerships in revitalizing postindustrial regions of New England.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Rosengren advocated for initiatives including the Main Street Lending Program aimed at supporting small and medium enterprises, along with the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility designed to stabilize financial markets.
Following his Federal Reserve service, Rosengren joined MIT’s Golub Center for Finance and Policy as a visiting professor, contributing to research on central bank digital currencies in collaboration with the Boston Fed. He also holds positions on Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s board, serves as a trustee at Colby College, and leads Rosengren Consulting.
In October 2020, he co-led the “Racism and the Economy” series alongside other Federal Reserve presidents.
In 2020, Rosengren conducted significant trades involving four real estate investment trusts (REITs), including Annaly Capital Management Inc., known for holdings in mortgage-backed securities. These transactions took place while the Federal Reserve was actively purchasing similar debt instruments—a detail accessible only to FOMC members such as Rosengren—and coincided with his support for policies influencing these asset valuations. The trades generated criticism over potential conflicts of interest and concerns about weakening public trust in Federal Reserve operations. After investigations into his activities and those of colleague Robert Kaplan, Senator Elizabeth Warren advocated for prohibiting Federal Reserve presidents from owning individual stocks. Subsequently, Rosengren pledged to divest his personal stock holdings.
He announced his early departure on September 27, 2021, prior to reaching the mandatory retirement age set for June 2022. This decision followed an internal review by the Federal Reserve concerning investment oversight protocols for senior officials.
On January 22, 2024, an inquiry by the Federal Reserve inspector general absolved Rosengren of misconduct related to his 2020 stock transactions, confirming adherence to Federal Reserve regulations without any legal breaches.
External links
- Profile at Boston Fed
- Federal Reserve Bank official biography
- Biography on the Federal Reserve System official site
- Eric S. Rosengren’s profile hosted by EconPapers
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1957 births
- 21st-century American economists
- American people of Swedish descent
- Colby College alumni
- Economists from Massachusetts
- Economists from New Jersey
- Federal Reserve Bank of Boston presidents
- Federal Reserve economists
- Living people
- People from Ridgewood, New Jersey