President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Eight times a year, Sandra Pianalto sits at an oval table in Washington, D.C., with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and 11 other Federal Reserve Bank presidents to decide whether to adjust U.S. monetary policy —always highly anticipated decisions that resonate from Wall Street to your street. Over the course of a year, Pianalto speaks with several hundred business leaders, asking about everything from inventory to expansion plans, so she can come to the table with the best economic information. It’s what Pianalto says she has always wanted to do. After graduating from college, she got a job as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. On her orientation tour, she was shown the room where U.S. monetary policy is set, and told herself that, one day, she’d have a seat at that table.
