Meet the influential head of the Philadelphia Fed

It is fair to say that Charles Plosser hardly draws a crowd when he strolls about Center City.

Few but the cognoscenti know who he is - perhaps Philadelphia's most influential resident, if you measure influence by national and international impact.

Oh sure, Comcast's Brian L. Roberts can raise your cable bill and Democratic fund-raiser David L. Cohen might have a say in his party's presidential nomination. Neither, however, can match Plosser's ability to move the world's financial markets with an offhand remark.

Not that he is given to anything so rash. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Plosser, 65, knows his every public utterance will be scrutinized to see what it might portend for the nation's monetary policy.

As a current voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, Plosser has a significant say in the setting of interest rates and availability of money nationwide. That means he has a real impact on your monthly credit-card bill, mortgage rate, the returns you receive on investments.

Among his peers, he has notably been critical of the Fed's policy of purchasing more than a $1 trillion in bonds to bolster the nation's sagging economy. Plosser fears that those purchases will ultimately trigger an inflationary run. His position has earned him a reputation as an inflationary "hawk" and criticism that he was unconcerned with the nation's unemployment rate.

"I think it is very popular to distinguish people on the FOMC as hawks or people less concerned about inflation," he said. "I don't think it is a very useful distinction.

"Everybody around the FOMC table wants the best for the economy. . . . It is really more about difference in how you think the economy works."

For Plosser, it is a matter of how much the Fed can realistically be expected to do.

In his view, the Fed is limited in its ability to solve the nation's economic woes. It can affect interest rates and, by extension, dampen inflation, but its influence on more complex issues - say, unemployment - is more muted, Plosser says. Given that, he says, it is wrong to assign it responsibility for the nation's fiscal problems that more appropriately should be addressed by other branches of government.

"The public wants to believe the central bank is this all-powerful institution that can solve all our economic problems," he said. "That somehow we can solve all our economic ills if we could just raise or lower the interest rates a little bit here or there. Unfortunately, it is not that simple."

Asked if that belief might be traced to Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman who cultivated a public belief that his stewardship was responsible for the nation's then-healthy economy, Plosser politely skirted the question.

"We should have been expressing a little more humility at times about what we can and can't do," was as close as Plosser came to laying blame.

Plosser, a native of Birmingham, Ala., was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in 2006. Before that he served as an economics professor at the University of Rochester's graduate business school. For a decade, he was the dean of the school.

He is married, lives in Center City, and is father to three children, grandfather to two. His elder son has a Ph.D. in economics, his second son has an M.B.A., and his daughter is in retail.

"I'm very fortunate they are all employed," he said, with the self-deprecating laugh of a man all too aware of his critics on the issue of unemployment.

He came to economics in an interesting way. He received an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, and decided he was drawn to economics instead.

"Engineering and economics are not that different," he said, noting that both rely heavily on math and an analytical mind. "There is a lot of carryover."

He conceded that engineering, ultimately, can be a bit more exact.

After two decades in academia, Plosser did not necessarily expect to be chosen as one of the Federal Reserve's 12 regional bank presidents.

"For me, it is very exciting," he said. "I frankly never envisioned doing this job."

Plosser was selected by the local Federal Bank's board of directors, but his appointment had to be approved by the national Federal Reserve. The post pays $350,000 a year.

He is in the middle of his second five-year term, which ends in 2016. Because of his age, he will be unable to serve another term. Asked about his plans, he wryly says that, like many his age, he worries about affording retirement.

Philadelphia Fed board members describe him as bright, insightful, and appropriately tactful.

"He is really a fabulous leader, incredibly impressive with his knowledge of the local economy, the national economy, even on the global scale," said Michael J. Angelakis, Comcast's chief financial officer, who serves as deputy chair of the local Fed board. "He really understands the nuance of monetary policy and fiscal policy."

While most noted for his position on the FOMC, Plosser points out that role is only a portion of his job as the local Fed president.

First and foremost, he is the chief executive officer of a very large organization - the local Fed employs 900 people and is responsible for a host of tasks, including regulating the region's banks.

But he also sees his role as continuing as an educator. As such, he is, perhaps, the most visible and vocal of the regional Fed presidents. He gives about 15 speeches a year.

"I tend to speak frequently, partly because I enjoy it, and partly because I think this educational role is important," he said. ". . . It is important we try to help the public understand the debates and challenges monetary policymakers face."

Ever the teacher, Plosser seems to relish that part of the job: "I have a great classroom."