Esther George

Esther George served as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 2011 to 2023. She was one of the most consistent dissenters on the Federal Open Market Committee, repeatedly voting against QE programs and near-zero interest rates during the 2010s. George warned persistently that ultra-easy monetary policy risked building financial imbalances and inflation — concerns that proved prescient when inflation surged in 2021-2022. She also hosts the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, one of the most important annual gatherings of central bankers globally. George spent her entire career at the Kansas City Fed, starting as a bank examiner and rising through the ranks over decades. Her deep background in bank supervision informed her longstanding concerns about the financial stability risks of prolonged low rates, including reach-for-yield behavior and compressed risk premia in financial markets. In her final years at the Fed, she was the lone dissenter at several FOMC meetings in favor of smaller, more measured rate increases rather than the 75-basis-point hikes her colleagues favored. She argued for gradualism even in the tightening cycle. She retired in January 2023 and was succeeded by Jeff Schmid.