Philip Jefferson, the No. 2 official at the Federal Reserve, returned to Davidson College Monday to visit with students and economics faculty and to share thoughts on interest rates and monetary policy with an evening audience in Tyler-Tallman Hall.
Jefferson, vice chair of the Fed’s board of governors, served as Davidson’s chief academic officer, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, from 2019 to 2022. He was nominated by President Biden as a Fed governor in 2022 and confirmed by an overwhelming vote. Last year he was nominated as vice chair and confirmed by a similar margin.
Students who met with him and those in the audience Monday evening saw the great care Jefferson took in his remarks, reflecting the Fed’s large influence as an independent body setting monetary policy. Even the sometimes technical remarks Jefferson made were enough to merit news coverage, including from Bloomberg and Reuters.