Cathy Minehan

Cathy E. Minehan (born February 15, 1947) was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from 1994 until her retirement in July 2007. Minehan also served as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the body responsible for U.S. monetary policy. She was "appointed Dean of the School of Management of Simmons College, a private university, in August 2011 and is Managing Director of Arlington Advisory Partners, a private advisory services firm."

At the national level over her years of service, she has chaired the Financial Services Policy Committee, a body that oversees the provision of Reserve Bank payment services, and has played key roles in the System's planning for or response to the year 2000 problem, interstate banking legislation, and the September 11 attacks. She also led efforts related to clarifying the governance of shared national activities among Reserve Banks.

Minehan received her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and earned her MBA from New York University, where she was designated a Distinguished Alumna in 1995.

According to Samuel O. Thier, MD, a director on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's board, its former chairman, and Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School

Cathy led the Bank during a challenging period characterized by dramatic changes in world events, the economy and technology.

— Samuel Thier 2007

Minehan was considered by economists to be a more of a monetary dove than a hawk in her economic philosophy.

From 1968 to 1978 Minehan worked as a bank examiner, analyst, and supervisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She became Assistant Vice President in 1979 and in 1982 she became Vice President. She was promoted to Senior Vice President in 1987 and remained in that position until 1991 when she joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.