Raphael Bostic


Raphael W. Bostic is an American economist and academic, who became the 15th President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on June 5, 2017. He previously served as a professor in economics at the University of Southern California.

Education and early career

Bostic was born in New York City and grew up in Delran, New Jersey, where he was valedictorian of his high school. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University in 1987 with a combined major in economics and psychology. In 1995, he earned his doctorate in economics from Stanford University.

Career

Bostic served as a board member of Freddie Mac, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Abode Communities. He is a fellow of the National Association of Public Administration, vice president of the Association of Public Policy and Management, a member of the board of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners, and a research advisory board member of the Reinvestment Fund.
Bostic was an economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1995 to 2001, and the assistant secretary for policy development and research at United States Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2012. He was the Chair of the Department on Governance, Management and the Policy Process at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California from 2012 to 2017.
In 2020, Bostic wrote an essay for the FRB Atlanta entitled, "A Moral and Economic Imperative to End Racism." In it he wrote that systematic racism drags on the economy.

Personal life

Bostic is the first African-American and first openly gay man selected to lead a regional Fed bank.