Cocktails & Politics with Esther George

JOIN US: July 25, 2024

Cocktails & Politics with Esther George, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Join American Public Square at Jewell for a Cocktails & Politics event featuring Esther George. George will share insights from her time leading regional Federal Reserve operations and speak to the economic trends likely to be front and center in the upcoming presidential election. The event will be moderated by longtime business leader and community advocate, M. Jeannine Strandjord.

Esther George served as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 2011 until her retirement in January 2023. As president, George led a workforce of more than 2,000 employees located at the Bank’s Kansas City office and Branch offices in Denver, Oklahoma City, and Omaha who supported the Kansas City Fed’s role in national monetary policy, financial institution supervision, and the provision of payment and financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. Treasury.

Esther L. George was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and a member of the Federal Open Market Committee from 2011 to 2023. Her Federal Reserve System service spans more than 40 years including considerable experience as a bank supervisor.  In 2009, she served as the Federal Reserve’s acting director of Banking Supervision and Regulation in Washington D.C.

George was actively involved in the Federal Reserve’s work to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the nation’s payment system, including leading the effort to establish instant retail payments known as the FedNow Service.  She hosted the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole international Economic Policy Symposium.

As president and chief executive officer, she led a workforce of 2,100 Federal Reserve employees serving the seven states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District through the Bank’s headquarters in Kansas City and its branch offices in Denver, Oklahoma City and Omaha. Under her leadership, the Bank was known for its community engagement, leadership development and technology services.

George currently serves on the boards of the Hallmark Corporation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and the Kansas City 2026 World Cup.

M. Jeannine Strandjord retired from Sprint Corporation at the end of 2005 as the Chief Integration Officer managing the successful transformation of Sprint from a product-centric to a customer-centric operating model assuring economic value creation through fully aligned organization development and process redesign.

Prior to that role, she held other senior positions at Sprint including CFO for Global Markets Group ($9B Division), SVP of Financial Services, Treasurer and Controller for the Corporation.  Before Sprint, she held financial positions with RH Macy’s, and Kansas City Power & Light Company after starting on the audit staff of Ernst & Whinney.

Subsequently she has worked on several corporate boards including Euronet Worldwide, MGP Ingredients, DST Systems, American Century Mutual Funds Board, Charming Shoppes and JE Dunn Construction Company (Private); and non-profit boards including the Ewing Kauffman Foundation, Truman Library Institute, World War I, Greater KC Community Foundation and the KU Academic Medical Center Advancement Board.

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William Jewell College