Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on Thursday announced the membership of five task forces assembled to scrutinize the institution’s operations, tapping a roster of prominent Wall Street figures, corporate executives, academics, and former central bankers.
Warsh first signaled his intent to establish the panels last month, tasking them with examining communications, data reliance, balance sheet policy, productivity and employment, and the framework governing inflation analysis. The groups are expected to address issues ranging from inflation dynamics to artificial intelligence as part of Warsh’s broader review of monetary policy strategy.
High-profile appointees include venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, and Greg Mankiw, former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon headlines the contingent of business leaders. Several selections, including King, had been previously reported.
“I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution,” Warsh said in a statement. “The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time.”
The Federal Reserve did not specify a completion timeline for the task forces, though Warsh has indicated he anticipates resulting changes within the year. The central bank noted the panels will “operate independently, with a mandate to follow the evidence, provide candid feedback, and produce rigorous findings” for the Federal Open Market Committee.
The appointees represent a broad spectrum of ideological and professional backgrounds. Other notable members include Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; former Fed Governor Jeremy Stein; and William White, the Canadian economist who warned of the risks posed by accommodative central bank policy prior to the 2008 global financial crisis.
For Andreessen, this marks a second prominent government advisory role in recent weeks following his late-June appointment to the U.S. Defense Policy Board. He will serve on the productivity and jobs task force.
When launching the initiative, Warsh—who has held the chair for less than two months—said the groups would “start with first principles; ask hard questions; examine current practice; consider alternatives; and, ultimately, propose next steps for policymaker consideration.” He reiterated Thursday that the Fed has the “resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor.”
The task forces are expected to challenge Fed orthodoxy. Warsh has already influenced the central bank’s communications posture, with officials shifting toward providing less explicit forward guidance and emphasizing their “reaction function”—the conditions prompting rate adjustments. The post-meeting statement in June was notably more concise than previous iterations.
The task force membership is as follows:
Communications: Peter R. Fisher, Professor of Practice, Foster School of Business, University of Washington; Arminio Fraga, Founder and Chairman, Gávea Investimentos and former President of the Central Bank of Brazil; and Mervyn King.
Balance Sheet Policy: Karen Dynan, Harvard Economist; Raghuram Rajan; and Jeremy Stein.
Data: Doug McMillon; Raj Chetty, Harvard Economist; and Kevin Murphy, University of Chicago Economist.
Productivity and Jobs: Marc Andreessen; Charles I. Jones, Stanford Economist; and Asha Sharma, Executive Vice President and Xbox CEO, Microsoft.
Inflation Frameworks: Greg Mankiw; William White; and Thomas Sargent, New York University Economist.
The groups will be supported by Federal Reserve staff.
