Dallas Fed Names Harvard Professor Kaplan as Next President

Check. At first flush Robert Steven Kaplan, just hand-picked as the new president and President of a given Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, might seem pretty well similar to the old president and Top dog he’s upgrading, Richard Fisher.

Kaplan, who takes office on Sept. 8, is a former investment banker and vice chairman at Goldman Sachs.

Kaplan, 58, is a business management professor and senior associate dean at Harvard Business School. He is also co-chairman of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.

The big-bank veteran is taking the helm of the Dallas Fed at a time when critics of the central agency – including Fisher – have raised concerns that Wall Street has too much power over the central bank and its regional affiliates.

The law governing the Fed allows the boards of the 12 regional banks – who say they’re exempt from sunshine laws because they aren’t government officials – to pick their presidents. “Rob is committed to improving the economy for all Americans”, Dallas Fed board chairwoman Renu Khator said in a statement.

The new president will not vote this year on the monetary policy of the Fed’s Monetary Committee (FOMC). A commitment to the Dallas Fed district, which covers Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Louisiana, also ranked among the desired qualities. Kaplan earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Kansas in 1979 and a master of business administration degree from Harvard in 1983. Kaplan chairs the investment advisory committee at Google Inc.