Loretta J. Mester was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland from June 1, 2014 through June 30, 2024. In that role, she participated in the formulation of US monetary policy and oversaw more than 1,000 employees based at the Bank’s Cleveland office and Branch offices in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh who conduct economic research, supervise banking institutions, promote community development, and provide payment services to depository institutions and the US Treasury. Mester was the 11th president of the Cleveland Fed and represented the Fourth District on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Mester began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in 1985 as an economist and was executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia prior to her appointment as president and CEO of the Cleveland Fed on June 1, 2014.

Mester is an adjunct professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Fellow with the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation. She has also taught in the undergraduate finance and MBA programs at Wharton and in the PhD program in finance at New York University.

Mester is a member of the board of directors of Renaissance Re and of the Haverford Trust Company, a member of the advisory council of the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute, and a contributor to CNBC, the business and financial news network.

In addition, she is a trustee of the Cleveland Clinic, a trustee of the Musical Arts Association (Cleveland Orchestra), a director of the Council for Economic Education, a founding director of the Financial Intermediation Research Society, a member of the CNBC Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board, a member of the Global Interdependence Center’s College of Central Bankers, a fellow of the National Association of Business Economics, a member of the senior council of the Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA), a member of the advisory board of the Financial Intermediation Network of European Studies (FINEST), and an editor of the Journal of Financial Services Research. She is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Finance Association, the Econometric Society, and the Financial Management Association International.

Mester was born in Baltimore. She graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and economics from Barnard College of Columbia University. She earned MA and PhD degrees in economics from Princeton University, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow.