Obama nominates economist Kathryn Dominguez to Federal Reserve

President Barack Obama plans to nominate academic and economist Kathryn Dominguez to the Federal Reserve board of governors, the White House announced Monday.

“She brings decades of leadership and expertise from various roles, particularly from her years as a leading economist and academic”.

The Fed’s board is made up of seven members, though there are now five serving. She also spent time doing research for the World Bank, worldwide Monetary Fund, and the Bank for worldwide Settlements.

She’s a graduate of Vassar College and holds a Ph.D.in economics from Yale University.

Dominguez, a professor at the University of Michigan, will join Allan Landon, former chief executive officer of the Bank of Hawaii, in awaiting approval by the Senate.

Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, a Washington-based group representing more than 6,500 community banks, said he would urge Senator Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, to schedule a hearing as soon as possible. From 1987 to 1997, Dr. Dominguez was on the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Princeton University from 1990 to 1991.

This is Obama’s second Fed nomination in recent months.

If both Ms. Dominguez and Mr. Landon are confirmed, the Fed board would be at full strength for the first time since August 2013.

Her writings on the topic may provide some insight into her views on the problems facing the US economy and monetary policy. “The biggest challenges are political”, she wrote.

Dominguez also has criticized the ability of top economists to make predictions about the future.