USC prof could be tapped for Atlanta Fed

Lockhart’s replacement would be 1st black leader of regional Fed bank.

A former housing official in the Obama administration has become the front-runner to succeed Dennis Lockhart as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, according to a report.

Raphael Bostic, now a professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, would be the first African-American president of one of the Fed’s 12 regional banks.

His potential selection for the Atlanta Fed post was reported in The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Lockhart resigned at the end of February after a decade in the job. The decision about a new president, which will be made by the Atlanta Fed’s board, could be announced in the next few weeks, the Journal reported.

The vacancy at the Atlanta Fed prompted calls from some quarters for a woman or minority to be named. Fifteen of the central bank’s 16 governors and regional bank presidents are white, and 12 are men, the Journal reported.

None are black or Hispanic, though Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is the son of Indian immigrants.

In a recent interview with the AJC, Lockhart expressed enthusiastic support for considering diverse candidates for his and other positions at the Fed.

Three African-Americans have been on the Fed’s Board of Governors since the central bank’s establishment in 1913, the Journal said.

Bostic, 50, was assistant secretary for policy development and research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2012. He has a doctorate in economics from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

USC Raphael Bostic, 50, is a former housing official in the Obama administration.