On June 21, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas announced that Meredith Black, first vice president and chief operating officer, will retire at year’s end and a search has been launched for a successor. Black has served in that position since 2016 and has worked for the bank for 38 years in a variety of important roles. Prior to being named first vice president, she was senior vice president with responsibility for the financial management and information technology groups.
“Meredith has been a trusted advisor and partner with me over the past five years,” says Robert S. Kaplan, president and CEO. “Her intellect, insight, excellent judgment and leadership skills have been invaluable to the Dallas Fed and Federal Reserve System. She has been a superb mentor and coach to numerous leaders at the Dallas Fed and across the system. I would like to thank Meredith for her extraordinary contributions over her career and for her commitment to our mission, our employees and the communities we serve.”
The first vice president reports directly to the bank president and oversees the bank’s daily operations, including its branches in Houston, San Antonio and El Paso. The first vice president also plays a key leadership role in numerous Federal Reserve System initiatives. The Federal Reserve Act mandates that first vice presidents of Federal Reserve Banks are to be appointed in the same manner and for the same term as reserve bank presidents. The first vice president will be appointed by the class B and class C members of the Dallas Fed board, with approval of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System.
To fill the position upon Black’s retirement, a search committee of Dallas Fed board of directors has been organized and the bank has retained the executive search firm Spencer Stuart to assist in identifying a diverse pool of qualified candidates from within, as well as from outside the Federal Reserve System. The search committee is composed of Kaplan, as well as Dallas Fed board members Greg L. Armstrong, co-founder and retired chair/CEO, Plains All American Pipeline LP; Thomas J. Falk, retired chair and CEO, Kimberly-Clark Corp.; Claudia Aguirre, president and CEO, BakerRipley; and Gerald B. Smith, chair and CEO, Smith, Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP.
Candidate referrals and questions about the application process should be directed to Spencer Stuart at dallasfrb@spencerstuart.com.
