Esther L. George was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and a member of the Federal Open Market Committee from 2011 to 2023. Her Fed service spans more than 40 years including considerable experience as a bank supervisor and payments system leadership. In 2009, during the Great Financial Crisis, she served as the Federal Reserve’s acting director of Banking Supervision and Regulation in Washington D.C.
George was actively involved in the Federal Reserve’s work to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the nation’s payment system, including leading the effort to establish real-time retail payments known as the FedNow Service. She hosted the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.
As president and chief executive officer, she led a workforce of 2,100 Federal Reserve employees serving the seven states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District through the Bank’s headquarters in Kansas City and its branch offices in Denver, Oklahoma City and Omaha. Under her leadership, the Bank was known for developing high-performing leaders and employees in addition to developing a competency in technology services.
George currently serves as chair of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Board of Trustees in Kansas City.
