Neel Kashkari was named president and CEO at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, effective Jan. 1, a spokeswoman said.
Mr. Kashkari will replace Narayana Kocherlakota, who is set to become the inaugural Lionel W. McKenzie Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester, also effective Jan. 1.
Mr. Kashkari will participate on the Federal Open Market Committee. He will also oversee employees in Minneapolis and Helena, Mont., who “conduct economic research, supervise financial institutions and provide payments services to commercial banks and the U.S. government, along with other supporting activities,” the Minneapolis Fed said in a news release.
Previously, Mr. Kashkari led Pacific Investment Management Co.'s fledgling efforts to build an equity presence as head of global equity. He left the bond manager in January 2013 to run for public office. Mr. Kashkari ran for governor of California in 2014, ultimately losing to incumbent Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr.
Prior to joining PIMCO in 2009, Mr. Kashkari had been an adviser to former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and oversaw the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, a program created to help financial institutions emerge from the financial crisis following the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. TARP was later reduced to $475 billion by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He was also an investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group.