The New York Federal Reserve has appointed an insurance industry executive as President John Williams’ second in command, a position that has seen recent turnover at the most important of the Fed system’s 12 regional banks.
Sushmita Shukla, currently a senior vice president and chief operations officer for International Accident & Health at insurer Chubb Ltd, will be appointed first vice president and chief operating officer of the New York Fed in March, the bank announced on Thursday.
The New York Fed, which had approximately 3,000 employees in 2021, is in charge of interacting directly with financial markets and enforcing monetary policy, and Williams is the only regional bank president who is a permanent voter on the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank’s rate-setting body. Shukla will serve as an alternate for Williams on the FOMC as needed.
Shukla joins the bank at a time when its top leadership ranks have seen some turnover in recent years. The most recent COO was Naureen Hassan, who left the bank in September after beginning in March 2021. Michael Strine held the position prior to that, retiring from the bank in early 2021 after taking over in July 2015.
Another critical position that the Fed is now looking to fill permanently is that of the System Open Market account manager, which was vacated by Lorie Logan when she was named president of the Dallas Fed in May.