PROVIDENCE – This fall’s annual meeting of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce is expected to feature one of the world’s heavy hitters in banking and finance: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome H. Powell.
Powell is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the chamber event Nov. 25 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in downtown Providence.
The event – one of the largest gatherings of Rhode Island’s business and civic leaders – costs $1,400 to reserve a corporate table seating eight people and $90 for individual reservations, according to the chamber.
The chamber and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., announced Tuesday that Powell will be appearing.
“Chairman Powell is working to support our economy at a critical time, and we are thrilled Rhode Islanders will hear directly from the chairman in person,” Reed said in the announcement.
“We are pleased to provide Rhode Island’s business community with an opportunity to hear directly from one of the world’s leading decision makers on economic and monetary policy,” added Laurie White, the chamber’s president.
Powell, 66, is the first chair of the Federal Reserve since 1987 not to hold a Ph. D. degree in economics. He took the position in February after being nominated by President Donald Trump and being confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Powell earned a degree in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979.
He worked as a lawyer and investment banker in New York City before briefly serving as under secretary for domestic finance for the U.S. Treasury in 1992 after being nominated by President George H. W. Bush.
From 1997 to 2005, Powell was a partner at The Carlyle Group, the storied and sometimes controversial American multinational private equity, alternative asset management, and financial services corporation.
After leaving Carlyle, he founded Severn Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on specialty finance and opportunistic investments in the industrial sector.
In 2008, he became managing partner of the Global Environment Fund, a private equity and venture capital firm that invests in sustainable energy.
Powell has served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2012, after being nominated by President Barack Obama.
In 2017, he took over oversight at the Fed of the “too big to fail” banks.
Despite appointing Powell, Trump has repeatedly criticized him this year for not substantially lowering interest rates and instituting quantitative easing. Trump has said he considers Powell an “enemy” equivalent to China’s president.
Reed, however, lauded Powell as “one of the few people to be tapped for key economic leadership positions” by both Obama and Trump. “We look forward to his keen insights and outlook for the economy,” the senator said.
White commended Reed for helping to secure Powell as the chamber’s keynote speaker.
“We look forward to hopefully hearing from Chairman Powell about his perspectives on the economy and factors which may impact its trajectory going forward,” she added.
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. You may email him at Blake@PBN.com.
