Thomas Hoenig

Thomas Hoenig became President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1991, a position he held for two decades until 2011, also serving as a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, notably in 2010. Hoenig began his impactful career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1973 as an economist in banking supervision. He steadily advanced through the ranks, achieving the role of Vice President in 1981 and Senior Vice President in 1986. His foundational expertise was built upon earning a B.A.

He was a vocal advocate for stringent banking regulation, famously criticizing the ‘too big to fail’ approach to financial institutions and championing accountability and stability within the banking sector. His leadership and insights significantly shaped regional and national economic discourse until his retirement from the Federal Reserve in 2011. Following his distinguished career at the Federal Reserve, Hoenig was nominated by President Barack Obama and subsequently confirmed as Vice Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), where he served from November 2012 to April 2018. In this critical role, he continued to emphasize financial stability, robust regulatory oversight, and accountability across the nation’s banking system, contributing significantly to the agency’s mission to maintain public confidence in the financial sector.

Since 2019, Thomas Hoenig has continued to lend his profound expertise to economic discourse and policy research as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center. In this capacity, he offers valuable insights into banking regulation, economic policy, and financial stability, building upon his decades of experience at the highest levels of federal financial institutions and providing ongoing contributions to critical economic policy conversations.