Mary Daly, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, is Syracuse University’s 2019 commencement speaker. Here are five things you should know about Daly before she gives her speech on May 12:

She’s an SU graduate

Daly received her doctorate in economics from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 1994. 

“Syracuse gave me a real sense of intellectual community,” Daly said in an interview with The Daily Orange. “One of the reasons I chose the Fed at San Francisco was because it had that same sense of intellectual community.”

Prior to studying at SU, Daly earned her master’s at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her bachelor’s at University of Missouri, Kansas City. She dropped out of high school at age 15, but later earned her GED diploma before going to college.

Daly will be awarded with an honorary degree from SU when she visits campus. 

She’s worked at the Fed for more than two decades

Daly was appointed president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in October 2018, following more than 20 years of work at the Reserve. 

She joined the Fed in 1996 as an economist and went on to hold several leadership positions before becoming the bank’s executive vice president and director of economic research. In that position, she oversaw research and offered economic analysis to help develop monetary policy.

Daly has been called “the people’s economist” for her efforts to increase the public’s understanding of economics and for her ability to explain economic ideas simply and concisely, according to the Fed’s website about its history.

She works to improve diversity in economics

Daly became the first openly gay woman to lead a Federal Reserve bank when she was named as the San Francisco Fed’s president and CEO last fall, CNN Business reported.

She previously served as chair of the bank’s Diversity and Inclusion Council for a year. In a speech at the Gender and Career Progression Conference in London last spring, Daly said the economics profession is facing a “diversity crisis.” Rather than creating a welcoming culture, she said, the economics field expects women and minorities to fit a mold they’re not comfortable with.

The Federal Reserve System, as well as the economics profession as a whole, has begun to focus on the lack of diversity, Daly said in an interview.

“Not just trying to make sure that people feel well-treated, but making sure that we actually are an inclusive profession and one that does our best work because we have everyone we need around the table,” she said.

Daly’s work at the San Francisco Fed — which she said adopted the mantra “diversity, no excuses” — included increasing the number of women and minority college graduates in the Fed’s research assistant program. 

Amy Nakamura | Co-Digital Editor

The San Francisco Fed sent more than 200 letters to universities and colleges across the country, informing them about the Fed’s diversity and inclusion efforts. Daly said she called each candidate personally, and the Fed worked to ensure that everyone had a place at the bank.

“In the end we got 50-50 gender diversity in the first year,” Daly said.

She authored two books 

Daly is the co-author of two economics-concentrated books published in 1996 and 2011.

Her first book, “Income Mobility and the Middle Class,” discusses the causes behind the shrinking middle class. “The Declining Work and Welfare of People with Disabilities: What Went Wrong and a Strategy for Change,” her latest book, covers economic concerns surrounding disability insurance policies in the United States.

Daly was also one of three co-editors of the book “Lifecycle Events and their Consequences: Job Loss, Family Change, and Declines in Health,” which details the economic impacts of job loss and other life events. 

She served on multiple government boards

Daly has served on the advisory boards of the Institute of Medicine, the Social Security Administration and the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center. Like the Fed, these institutions are public service organizations. Daly said she wanted to contribute to public policies that better the lives of all Americans. 

“It’s all about promoting inclusive growth, making sure people have the tools and the opportunities that they need in order to be successful in their own lives,” Daly said. 

She has also served on the boards of the Congressional Budget Office and the Library of Congress. Daly said that, when at the CBO, she worked on a variety of subjects, from how labor markets function to whether the social safety net corresponds with the needs of a changing economy. 

Published on May 7, 2019 at 11:05 am

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu