ATLANTA FED SURVEY ASSESSES THE PUBLIC'S PRIORITIES IN NEXT BANK PRESIDENT

The following information was released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta:

Last December, the Atlanta Fed's board of directors began the search for the Bank's next president and chief executive officer. Raphael Bostic, who previously held the position, retired at the end of February. Cheryl Venable, the Bank's first vice president and chief operating officer, is currently serving as interim president.

The Bank is committed to a search process that's both thorough and transparent. A number of components will inform the search committee's final decision. One of those is a public community survey conducted in February by the Bank's Economic Survey Research Center. The survey was designed to gauge the attributes people desire in the Atlanta Fed's next leader.

This surveyalong with the many other ways the Atlanta Fed has invited public engagementreflects a level of community involvement that prompted one Fed watcher to ask why the Bank has involved the public so extensively. The question was posed during a March 11 public forum that was livestreamed and remains available for viewing. The forum featured the Bank's board chair and deputy chair, both of whom serve on the presidential search committee and who convened a moderated online conversation to provide an update on the search process.

Greg Haile, chair of the Atlanta Fed's board of directors and search committee, responded that he "couldn't imagine doing the search any other way." The idea to engage in meaningful transparency and engagement arose organically within the search committee, he said. Members determined this approach would result in the identification of "the public servant who is the best fit to serve the southeastern United States as president of the Atlanta Fed and be able to have the impact on the nation we know this role will have."

Although the Economic Survey Research Center has conducted business and household surveys for the better part of the last 15 years, the center had yet to participate in a presidential search. "It was an honor for me and my survey team to have an opportunity to have a role in the presidential search process," said Brent Meyer, the Atlanta Fed vice president and senior economist who led the survey that was conducted across the Sixth District, which includes Alabama, Florida, and Georgia and portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

The summary of survey results reveals two takeaways:

Constituents highly prize leadership, judgment, and economic expertise in the next Atlanta Fed president; and

Respondents prefer a president who has served as a major enterprise leader and is comfortable on the biggest stages, yet one is willing to engage in and deepen their understanding of the Sixth District.

Data-driven design provides deeper insights

A strength the survey brings to gauging public opinions on the next president is its ability to provide quantifiable data. In addition, the survey team brought to bear its expertise in structuring the wording of questions and responses. For instance, questions were framed so that respondents could rank the top three attributes in a group of possible answers. In addition, respondents were asked if they were familiar with the work of the Federal Reserve, enabling that perspective to be included in the analysis of survey results.

Meyer said the survey team worked with the goal of fielding a thoughtful, comprehensive survey to understand the attributes that most respondents desire in the next Atlanta Fed president, and also a sense of which of those attributes are most important to Sixth District residents. "We designed our questionnaire to uncover deep insights and rank trade-offs across a comprehensive set of attributes that a broad set of different groups of folks within the District would find desirable in our next president," Meyer said.

The survey was distributed to a variety of constituents across the Sixth District. Recipients included business executives, community leaders, reporters and media representatives, payments system contacts, financial institutions, and members of the interested public who either subscribe to one of the Atlanta Fed's email updates or engage with the Bank on social media. The survey elicited more than 850 responses, and the results were presented to the Bank's presidential search committee.

Constituents would like new president to learn the region early, and integrity is paramount

Scrutinizing the survey results shows that respondents would like the new president to prioritize getting to know the people and communities across the Sixth District. Specifically, more than half of respondents said the president's top two first-year priorities should be deepening their understanding of the region's economy and building relations throughout the District. Survey respondents also emphasized the importance of having a strong and credible representative of the regiona leader who can effectively communicate and elevate the District's unique economic perspectives and insights.

Almost 80 percent of respondents ranked "economic expertise" or "leadership and judgment" as the attribute that mattered most. More than 50 percent ranked "integrity and ethical judgment" as the most important leadership quality.

Respondents expressed a clear preference for a leader who brings innovative and forward-looking ideas. More than half highlighted these two qualities as most important, while around one in five favored a leader who emphasizes collaboration and consensus-building. A similar share preferred someone who's decisive and action oriented.

Another of the survey's findings is that constituents want the Atlanta Fed to continue its work to foster the Bank's strategic priority summed up as "an economy that works for everyone." Well over three-quarters of survey respondents characterize the necessary traits to further the goal as helping to elevate underserved or underrepresented communities, supporting regional economic cooperation, prioritizing the views of local businesses and labor markets, and representing regional concerns nationally.

These broad characteristics point toward a set of leadership qualities that includes soft skills associated with learning about the people of the Sixth District and things they value, in addition to the technical economic expertise, managerial background, strategic insights, and sound, ethical judgment required to lead the Bank, with a staff spread across the head office in Atlanta and five branch offices, and represent the District in conversations with the Federal Reserve about monetary policy.

Listening sessions and LinkedIn poll echo survey themes

Survey responses generally align with those collected in the 16 listening sessions that members of the search committee conducted with around 100 stakeholders across the Sixth District. In these conversationsobserved by the executive search firm retained by the Bank, Heidrick and Strugglesbroad stakeholder agreement emerged for a candidate with enterprise experience, one who has a knowledge of economics, capital markets, and the mindset of business leaders.

In addition, the listening sessions uncovered a desire for the incoming president to understand the District's rich cultural heritage, diverse communities, and the many industries and institutions that drive its economic vitality.

Along with the official survey, the Bank posed similar polling questions to its LinkedIn followers. The top leadership quality respondents cited there was the combination of integrity and ethical judgment. Regarding external engagement, demonstrating Fed independence was, by far, the highest priority, a quality that arose in the listening sessions as well. Fed independence in setting monetary policy was named as a major challenge the new president should be willing to support, according to many participants. A credible voice on economics was another quality cited that emerged in the LinkedIn poll, community survey, and listening sessions.

Haile emphasized that the search committee will evaluate all the information gathered during the presidential search process before recommending a finalist to the Board of Governors, which has the authority to approve or reject the choice. The pace of the process will be deliberate.

"The way we've thought about this as a committee is that we know we want to move with haste, but we also don't want to trade that pace for results," Haile said at the public forum. "The most important thing is that we get the right person for this position, and we will do that. We don't have a set timeline, and we don't plan on having one. We do want to make sure we are moving with a great deal of focus, discipline, and pace. We will get the right candidate."