Michael S. Barr was sworn in Tuesday as vice chair for supervision and a member of the Federal Reserve Board, with the oath of office administered by Fed Chair Jerome H. (“Jay”) Powell, the Fed announced.
Barr was nominated to both posts May 2 by President Joe Biden (D). The Senate Banking Committee held his confirmation hearing May 19 and favorably reported his nomination to the full Senate June 8 on a vote of 17-7. The Senate confirmed him to both posts – supervision vice chair and board member – July 13 on identical bipartisan votes of 66-28.
Barr succeeds Randal Quarles in the vice chair post. Quarles was the first to hold the job, and his four-year term in that post ended last October. He resigned from the board in December.
Barr is a former Treasury official, having served in the administration of President Barack Obama (D) in the National Economic Council in the White House and as assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions – where, the White House said, he was a key architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank).
He most recently served as a law professor at the University of Michigan.