Kevin Warsh Called 'Chairman,' Reversing Fed's 12-Year Precedent
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Kevin Warsh is now listed as 'chairman' on the Federal Reserve website, reversing a 12-year precedent set by Janet Yellen and Jerome Powell, who both chose the gender-neutral 'chair' title
- The Federal Reserve Act itself references 'chairman' and 'vice chairman,' and no law or regulation governs the title, leaving the choice to personal preference
- President Donald Trump tapped Warsh to lead the central bank as Trump angles for lower interest rates, with Warsh's first Fed meeting scheduled for next week in Washington
- The House of Representatives adopted gender-neutral language in 2021 under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, changing 'chairman' to 'chair,' but Republican-led House and Senate committee websites now use 'chairman' almost exclusively
- A 2024 Bloomberg analysis found 185 of the S&P 500 companies use gender-neutral language — triple the count from four years earlier — though major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley still use 'chairmen'
- Alicia Syrett, founder of the directors' network Chairs & Leads, said the title change is simply Warsh's personal decision and 'no different from a female in the role' choosing 'chairwoman'
Why it matters: Warsh's reversion to 'chairman' ends a 12-year gender-neutral naming convention at the Fed, but the choice carries no policy weight — the Federal Reserve Act itself uses 'chairman,' and no regulation governs the title. The split runs through corporate America too: while 185 S&P 500 companies have adopted gender-neutral language, major banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs never made the switch, underscoring that the convention is personal and unsettled.
Ask SkimNews
