Susan Bies
Encyclopedia
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
.
Education and family
Bies was born in Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, and received a B.S. in education from the Buffalo State College
Buffalo State College
The State University of New York College at Buffalo, referred to as Buffalo State College, often referred to colloquially as Buff State, is a public, liberal arts college in Buffalo, New York, United States and is part of the State University of New York. Buffalo State was founded in 1871 as the...
in 1967 and an M.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. (1972), both in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. As of 2007, Bies is married and has two adult sons.
Federal Reserve
Bies took office on December 7, 2001 as a full term member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve SystemFederal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
, term to end January 31, 2012. She submitted her resignation from the Board on February 9, 2007, and left the Fed effective March 30, 2007. A Federal Reserve Press Notice stated she planned to spend more time with her family.
Prior professional career
Before becoming a member of the Board, Dr. Bies was Executive Vice President for Risk Management and Auditor at First Tennessee National Corporation (now listed as First Horizon National CorporationFirst Horizon National Corporation
First Horizon National Corporation is a large banking company based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It is the parent company of First Tennessee Bank and FTN Financial....
) in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
(1995-2001). From 1979 to 1995, she served in various other positions at First Tennessee, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer, Vice President for Corporate Development, Tactical Planning Manager, and Economist.
Before joining First Tennessee, Bies was Associate Professor of Economics, Rhodes College
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a private, predominantly undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Originally founded by freemasons in 1848, Rhodes became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in 1855. Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students pursuing bachelor's and master's...
, Memphis, Tennessee (1977-79); Assistant Professor of Economics, Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
, Detroit, Michigan (1972-77); and Chief Regional and Banking Structure Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (1970-72).
Bies has served as a Fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is one of twelve regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the nation's central bank....
(1969-70) and as a Fellow at the Northwestern University Center for Urban Affairs (1968-69).
Bies has been active in leadership positions for various organizations, including the Emerging Issues Task Force of the Financial Accounting Standards Board
Financial Accounting Standards Board
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles within the United States in the public's interest...
, the Committee on Corporate Reporting of the Financial Executives Institute, the End Users of Derivatives
Derivative (finance)
A derivative instrument is a contract between two parties that specifies conditions—in particular, dates and the resulting values of the underlying variables—under which payments, or payoffs, are to be made between the parties.Under U.S...
Association, the American Bankers Association
American Bankers Association
The American Bankers Association is an industry trade group and professional association representing the United States' banking industry...
, and the Bank Administration Institute. She has also served with numerous other business, professional, academic, civic, and charitable organizations including the American Economic Association
American Economic Association
The American Economic Association, or AEA, is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review...
, Institute of Management Accountants, International Women's Forum, Economic Association of Memphis, University of Memphis, Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce, Memphis Youth Initiative, and Memphis Partners.
Comment on subprime mortgage crisis
In December 2008, Bies was reported to say she thought that regulators had been caught by surprise by the rapid growth in volume of so-called subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages in the mid-2000s subprime mortgage crisisSubprime mortgage crisis
The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....
, and that she regretted there was not quicker action taken to protect borrowers. “When you get into people whose mortgage payments are taking half of their cash flow, they are in over their heads, and these loans should not have been sold to this customer base,” she said, quoted in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. “This makes me sick when I see this happening.”