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ANNUAL REPORT I 2018

Go Figure with FRED
®

The St. Louis Fed’s signature economic database

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FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
CENTRAL TO AMERICA’S ECONOMY®

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FRED, ALFRED, GeoFRED, FREDcast and FRASER are
registered trademarks of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

ST. LOUIS

CENTRAL TO AMERICA’S ECONOMY®

ANNUAL REPORT I 2018

Table of Contents
President’s Message

Go Figure with FRED Essays
FRED Puts the Data in Your Hands

Behind the Scenes with the FRED Team

Economic Education and FRED: Keeping It Real

Do You Know FRASER?

FRED’s Got Friends

Our Leaders. Our Advisers.

Chair’s Message

Boards of Directors, Advisory Councils, Bank Officers

Our People. Our Work.

PUBLISHED APRIL 15, 2019
Our financial statements are available online. To read them, go to the website for the annual report,
stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2018, and click on Financial Statements in the navigation bar.

stlouisfed.org |

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Gateway to the
World’s Economic Data
In my global travels as a monetary policymaker, people frequently tell me that the main
way they know the St. Louis Fed is through FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)—
the Bank’s signature economic database. FRED’s popularity has grown from a modest
620 pioneering users when it was introduced in 1991 to 5.9 million users worldwide in 2018.
At the St. Louis Fed, we are leaders in providing the
public better access to economic and financial data—
which complements our efforts to improve economic
education for all.1 Having access to data enables people
and businesses to make wiser economic decisions,
leading to better outcomes for the economy overall.
Fulfilling this public mission is at the core of why our
Research division created and maintains FRED and other
online data services that the public can access for free.

A One-Stop Shop
While a myriad of free data sources exists, extracting
the data from many different databases can be
cumbersome. FRED—which is an aggregator rather
than a producer of data—serves as a one-stop shop
where users can get all housed data in a consistent
format and compare series more easily.
As of the end of 2018, our FRED database contained
more than 520,000 regional, national and international
data series from 87 different primary sources, such
as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau
of Economic Analysis, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, and the International
Monetary Fund. With ready access to this wide range
of series and sources in one place, users can get a
good picture of both U.S. and global economic data.

| Annual Report 2018

In addition, the data series we add to FRED are based
on the most used, most requested and most credible
data sources—all so that users can maintain confidence
in the data found in FRED.
FRED is oriented toward everyday users as well as
occasional users of economic data, including students,
teachers, financial market professionals, journalists,
researchers and other interested individuals. (See what
some of these users had to say in the article “FRED’s
Got Friends” in this annual report.)

The St. Louis Fed Tradition
FRED is a continuation of the St. Louis Fed’s tradition
of being a leader in the dissemination of macroeconomic data, which started several decades ago with
Homer Jones (the Bank’s director of research from 1958
to 1971). One of the main themes early on was that
everyone should be able to access data the same way
a professional person would. Consequently, the Bank
began producing popular weekly and monthly data
publications that were mailed to subscribers.2
A 1967 Business Week article about the St. Louis Fed
said the following: “Jones and his people take the basic
material pumped out of Washington, then rework and
polish it, and put it into highly readable form. As one
Fed aide in Washington observes ‘Homer has the most

James Bullard is the president and CEO of the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

merchantable stuff coming out of the system today.’”3
With the arrival of the internet age, the Research division took the concept of distributing data publications
on paper and transitioned it to the web. Another former
director of research, Bob Rasche, was instrumental in
driving FRED forward during this period.4 He dedicated
the resources needed to grow FRED, to help it gain
global recognition and to further the St. Louis Fed’s
leadership in this area.

mobile app, allowing convenient access to the data.
Another capability within FRED is that users who have a
registered FRED account can save their favorite graphs,
create data dashboards, and more.
At the St. Louis Fed, we place great emphasis on
innovation in support of our public mission. The FRED
and family databases are one of many examples of
innovative products and services that we provide to the
Federal Reserve System and the public. As mentioned
earlier, they complement the efforts of our Economic
Education department, which is prolific in developing
programs that enhance financial literacy. These efforts
involve integrating FRED and family into the classroom
experience, with the idea that data literacy can help
bring economic concepts to life.

The Future of FRED
We are proud of the valuable service that we provide
to data users with FRED and family, and we want to
continue providing such high-quality service in the
future. Given that people’s preferences for accessing
and interacting with data will evolve, we must evolve our
products and services to meet those changing needs.
Doing so will require staying up to date with technology
and continuing to look for ways to deliver data more
efficiently. Ultimately, our goal is to help people and
businesses make better economic decisions.

Technology and Innovation
Rapidly changing technology has provided both
opportunities and challenges. Over the years, keeping
up with changing technology and the ways in which
people want to interface with data has prompted not
only enhancements to FRED but also the creation of
additional data services and tools.
Related data services include GeoFRED (a geographic
mapping tool for regional and international data series)
and ALFRED (“ArchivaL FRED,” which contains historical vintages of data series). Our Research division also
offers FRASER (a digital library of the economic history
of the U.S., with a focus on the Federal Reserve System)
for users who are interested in historical documents.
Among other enhancements and tools, developers
have created iOS and Android versions of the FRED

James Bullard
President and CEO
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

ENDNOTES
1 See the St. Louis Fed’s 2016 annual report, “Economic Literacy for Life:

Today’s Lessons=Tomorrow’s Financial Stability and Success.”
2 For additional information, see Poole, William. “Data, Data, and Yet More

Data,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, March/April 2007, Vol. 89,
No. 2, pp. 85-9.
3 “Maverick in the Fed system,” Business Week, Nov. 18, 1967, pp. 128-34.
4 Robert “Bob” Rasche served as director of research from 1999 to 2009 and
as executive vice president and senior policy adviser until his retirement in
2011. See “FRED remembers Bob Rasche,” the FRED Blog, June 6, 2016.

stlouisfed.org |

FRED FEATURE ESSAYS: PART 1

FRED Puts the Data
in Your Hands
By Katrina Stierholz

U.S. agencies have been collecting economic data for well over a century.1 In 1961,
Homer Jones, then research director of the St. Louis Fed, decided that economic data
would be much more valuable if they were more broadly shared.
Jones sent a memo (see next page) that included
three data tables to a few of his colleagues, asking if
they thought them useful. The memo suggested that
data could help measure the effects of monetary policy.
And with that, the St. Louis Fed began its commitment
to data access, which is now embodied by FRED.
FRED first launched in 1991 as a free dial-up bulletin
board with 30 data series. Despite such modest origins,
FRED was clearly meant to be a long-term investment
in public service. Today, FRED is a database known
worldwide for providing free access to over half a million
economic and socioeconomic data series. It can be
accessed whenever and wherever needed, from your
laptop or smartphone.
FRED goes far beyond simply providing data: It combines data with a powerful mix of tools that help users
understand, interact with, display and disseminate data.
For instance, users can:
• Search, access, graph, transform and download data
• Map data—particularly for local or regional views—
using GeoFRED
• Retrieve initial, or “vintage,” versions of data
using ALFRED
• Save and manage graphs in user accounts
• Share sourced data in research, in the classroom
or on social media platforms like Twitter

| Annual Report 2018

Stierholz is a vice president in the
Research division. She heads up the
Bank’s Homer Jones Library and
the FRASER digital library. She also
oversees the division’s economic
education and editorial groups, as
well as the St. Louis Fed Data Desk.

Katrina Stierholz, Vice President and Director of Library
and Research Information Services

It’s an incredibly rich resource that the FRED team
provides to help improve the quality of economic and
financial research, education, public policy, and business
decision-making. In essence, FRED helps users tell their
data stories.

Access to Data
Government data are the backbone of FRED. Without
the efforts of government agency employees, none of
this work would be possible. And because government
data have become vital for many constituencies—such
as policymakers, businesses, nonprofits and the general
public—access to those data is also vital.

FRED first launched in 1991 as a free dial-up bulletin board with
30 data series. Despite such modest origins, FRED was clearly
meant to be a long-term investment in public service.

On Jan. 14, 2019, a bill with broad bipartisan support
was signed into law that requires “open government data
assets to be published as machine-readable data” (the
OPEN Government Data Act).2 The goal of this law is
to ensure that the public has useful and broad access to
government data.
This goal is similar to the original intent of FRED and
why the FRED team continues to invest in this robust

digital data service: to help citizens and businesses
access data more easily and thereby make informed
decisions. (The monetary value of data for businesses
is particularly well-documented.3)

Understanding Data
Having access to the many data series available in
FRED is terrific—a single place to find and use data from

This 1961 memo from Homer
Jones, the St. Louis Fed’s director
of research from 1958 to 1971,
is the first known data distribution
from the Bank.

“I should be glad to hear
from anyone who thinks
that such time series
may have value... .”

Robert “Bob” Rasche
served as director of
research from 1999
to 2009. He was
instrumental in
providing the resources
needed to grow FRED
and help it gain global
recognition.

Homer Jones
stlouisfed.org |

so many sources is powerful and efficient. That said,
finding data and making sense of the data are two different things. Today, to be truly informed, people need
to effectively access, work with and interpret data to
solve problems.4
If the public doesn’t have the necessary skills to make
sense of the data, the promise of open-data initiatives
will go unfulfilled. So, FRED also provides educational
support and tools for those who do not have the skills
or are developing them.

Where We Are ...
The world is awash in data, and some of the data
show that many adults unfortunately do not understand
basic mathematical concepts or have the skills to use
data. For example, a March 2016 report found that the
U.S. scored below the international average for numeracy, which is the ability to understand and work with
numbers.5 These concepts matter for personal financial
literacy and decision-making. At the larger, societal level, lower scores have also correlated with low voting and

volunteering rates, as shown in an April 2007 report.6
These measures all tie closely to the emerging field of
data literacy, which is the ability to understand and use
data.7 The ability to read a chart or data table, recognize
basic mathematical principles (such as mean, median or
growth rates) and discern the quality of the source and
scope of the data is important for evaluating the value
of the data as evidence for an argument or decision.
Educational groups have identified the importance
of these skills and embedded them in their standards:
• The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
includes a standard for data analysis and probability.8
• The Common Core standards include the ability to
evaluate data within a technical text, to calculate
expected values and to use those values to solve
problems.9
In short, educators nationwide recognize this type of
literacy as vital to preparing students for life choices
informed by their ability to understand data.
With FRED and the strong contributions from the
St. Louis Fed’s Economic Education team, the Bank
works to support the emerging field of data literacy.

A key contribution of FRED is combining
the data with content that educates
users about the data. For example:
1 Users can take a short course on
how unemployment is measured to
help them better understand a FRED
graph of unemployment.
2 They can watch a video about the
labor force and review labor force
participation rates in FRED.
©GettyImages/londoneyes/E+

3 They can watch President Bullard
talk about the risk of a yield curve
inversion while viewing a common
yield spread in FRED.
The goal is to help users understand
data, not just in FRED but everywhere
they encounter data.

| Annual Report 2018

... Where FRED Can Take Us
The power of data to inform policymakers, researchers and the public is incredible, and access to data has
never been broader. The difficulty comes in the ability to
make sense of them. Dozens of features and tools have
been added to FRED over the years to improve access
to data. There’s always more to do, and the FRED team
is always working on something new.
Providing data is only the first step. Our mission also
includes efforts to help illuminate the data and improve
people’s understanding of them. The ability to evaluate
the data and the meaning behind them is crucial. If users
can’t extract information from data, then they have no
real value. The St. Louis Fed is working on a solution.

ENDNOTES
1 Rockoff, Hugh. “On the Controversies behind the Origins of the Federal

8
9

Economic Statistics.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2019, Vol. 33,
No. 1, pp. 147-64.
The OPEN Government Data Act is Title II of a larger piece of legislation: the
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. See https://www.
congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174/text.
Hughes-Cromwick, Ellen; and Coronado, Julia. “The Value of US Government
Data to US Business Decisions.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter
2019, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 131-46.
Prado, Javier Calzada; and Marzal, Miguel Ángel. “Incorporating Data Literacy
into Information Literacy Programs: Core Competencies and Contents.” Libri,
June 2013, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 123-34.
Rampey, Bobby D.; Finnegan, Robert; Goodman, Madeline; Mohadjer, Leyla;
Krenzke, Tom; Hogan, Jacquie; and Provasnik, Stephen. “Skills of U.S. Unemployed, Young, and Older Adults in Sharper Focus: Results from the Program
for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), 2012/2014:
First Look.” U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, March 2016.
Kutner, Mark; Greenberg, Elizabeth; Jin, Ying; Boyle, Bridget; Hsu, Yung-chen;
and Dunleavy, Eric. “Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.” U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, April 2007.
Frank, Mark; Walker, Johanna; Attard, Judie; and Tygel, Alan. “Data Literacy:
What is it and how can we make it happen?” The Journal of Community
Informatics, September 2016, Vol. 12, Issue 3, pp. 4-8.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Principles and Standards for
School Mathematics. 2000.
Common Core State Standards Initiative. “English Language Arts StandardsScience and Technical Subjects, Grade 11-12: Integration of Knowledge and
Ideas,” at corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RST/11-12/; and “Measurement &
Data, Grades K-12,” at corestandards.org/Math/Content/MD/.

#LetsFREDthat

stlouisfed.org |

FRED FEATURE ESSAYS: PART 2

Behind the Scenes
with the FRED Team
Members of the FRED team recently took to the St. Louis Fed’s Economy Museum to discuss
all things FRED: the Bank’s long-standing commitment to public service, FRED’s intrinsic
value as a data aggregator, a few of the more interesting finds in FRED, and where FRED
and its information services siblings might head next.
Following are excerpts from this conversation conducted by Assistant Vice President
Jennifer Beatty. The excerpts have been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full interview
at stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2018.
What Is FRED?
A little team runs this big engine called FRED.
To start, what is FRED?
Katrina Stierholz: FRED is an economic database that
we provide as a public service. It’s a tool that brings
economic data together from over 80 sources, and we
have half a million series. Users can come to the database and get data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
or the Bureau of Economic Analysis. They can put data
together, they can do transformations of data, and they
can ask questions of the data and learn about the economy using FRED.
Why is it important to provide this public service?
Stierholz: In the modern world, people use data to
make decisions. What we’re doing is helping people
understand their world and make judgments. So, when
we provide data about the economy or about one’s
region, people can understand that better.
Keith Taylor: FRED users are consumers who are
making decisions, like how to get a mortgage, or busi-

| Annual Report 2018

What Is FRED?
Also learn about FRED’s cousin,
FRASER, the digital library of
historic U.S. publications, at
stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2018.

nesses making a decision about where they might invest
or release a new product, and academics using data to
further their research. So, it’s a wide audience.
Why does the St. Louis Fed offer it?
Stierholz: It’s an interesting thing, because it grew
organically out of work that was done in the early 1960s.
We had a research director, Homer Jones, who decided
to start sending data to people to help inform monetary
policy. So, FRED was really intended initially to be a
public service, to help people understand the economy.
That public service piece has been a thread that’s come
through to the present, but, of course, what has changed
is how we deliver that public service. Back then, it was
paper, initially three tables. Now it’s a database, half a

million series. It’s got amazing tools and things you can do
with the data. You can share it, you can download it, but
the public service piece is still there.
Some might ask why it matters that the public has free
access to data. What’s the goal in providing this?
Stierholz: One thing I’m particularly interested in is
data literacy: helping people understand how to use
data, how to examine data critically, and how to make
use of it in their lives. We provide data, but we also provide ways for people to understand data.
What it does is help people become data informed—
even data comfortable or data competent—where they
can look at data to understand their world at large.
Taylor: FRED has a wide range of users, from high
school students to Nobel Prize winners. Most of them,
though, are novice data users and need a little help to
make the most of FRED. And this is really an area where
data literacy can help them ask good questions and be
confident that the answers that they are getting from
FRED are accurate.

Katrina Stierholz, Vice President and Director of Library
and Research Information Services

Taylor manages the Research
division’s web developers and
spearheads the strategic vision for
FRED, ALFRED and GeoFRED. He
also engages with outside groups,
such as journalists and publishers,
interested in integrating the FRED
family into their work.
Keith Taylor, FRED Data Champion

stlouisfed.org |

FRED has some siblings: GeoFRED and ALFRED.
Can you tell us about them?
Yvetta Fortova: ALFRED is really archival FRED. It
started back when Bob Rasche was a research director,
and he really believed in the value of storing series that
revise over time. Almost all the series we have in FRED
do revise, and we set up ALFRED for that reason: so
that you can access data on a given period and see
what the data looked like.
To some people, this kind of data is very important
because they can re-evaluate old economic models
with the vintage data. And it’s also very popular in
policymaking.
Taylor: We also have GeoFRED, which allows you to
map FRED data at the U.S. level. We also have county
level, metropolitan statistical area and state level data,
and then, at the international level, you can map all the
countries. Both GeoFRED and ALFRED are accessible
as their own domains: geofred.stlouisfed.org and
alfred.stlouisfed.org.

The Magic of FRED
Tell us a bit more about how FRED works.
Fortova: FRED’s magic is very simple. As the originating sources publish their data, we download the
data, we do some quality controls, and then we upload
the data into our FRED database. Really, all time series
in FRED live in harmony, and they are displayed on a
graph page where they are plotted over a continuous
time. For example, you can go on FRED and access

The Magic of FRED
Hear about FRED’s version
of “Braggin’ Rights”—
between the University of
Illinois and University of
Missouri—at stlouisfed.org/
annual-report/2018.

Fortova is responsible for the
collection, organization and publication of data in FRED, ALFRED and
GeoFRED. She also leads the St. Louis
Fed Data Desk’s customer service
and operations efforts, as well as the
promotion of FRED-related products.

Yvetta Fortova, FRED Product Owner

nating source has published the data sets. In addition,
we have three more people who work on our front-end
application to make sure that our website and tools are
properly working.
You’re taking these credible data sources from all
over the world, and FRED becomes this one-stop shop
for this data. How might that be helpful for a user?
Fortova: We recognize that statistical agencies have a
mission to disseminate data to users. And we, as FRED,
are sympathizing with that mission. We are able to build
bridges with the respective sources—for example, the
U.S. Census Bureau—to help make sure that users are
getting the best data experience to tell their story and
understand the data.
What makes FRED unique as a public service?
Fortova: The U.S. is unique in that there is not a single
statistical agency. All statistical agencies specialize in
their own data indicators, and they are very good at it.
They are the subject matter experts.
What FRED does is put all the data under one roof,
so FRED is a data aggregator. And it’s very beneficial for
users, because they can then go to FRED and find gross
domestic product, which is published by the Bureau of
Economic Analysis, and the unemployment rate, which
is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, all on one
website. But not only that, they can actually put all this
data on one graph.
Who’s the audience for FRED?

gross domestic product, which is available from 1947 to
the most recent period.
We have five people on our team who work hard to
make sure that data is uploaded as soon as the origi-

| Annual Report 2018

Taylor: So, instructors and students. We also have quite
a few people using FRED to make business decisions:
financial professionals, analysts at corporations. We have
academic-style researchers, and they’re using it to further

Maintaining FRED as a
data aggregating powerhouse takes a strong team
(clockwise from top left):
Maria Arias, senior associate
data specialist; Christopher
Russell, associate data
specialist; Peter Curti,
web developer; Travis May,
associate data specialist;
Amy Melser, project manager;
Yvetta Fortova, manager
and FRED product owner;
Duane Tuffentsamer, senior
web developer; George Essig,
senior web developer;
and Jonathan Sullivan,
associate data specialist.

their research. We also have a lot of journalists and bloggers who are using it to talk about economics.
One of the things that makes it easy for them is they
can grab an image off of our website, tweet to it or put
it in a blog.
Another project we have is the FRED Blog, with
articles written twice weekly. They dive into an economic
topic, then how you can demonstrate that topic in
FRED. The articles are often about things happening in
the news, so they’re very topical. Frequently, they also
get picked up by journalists as a basis for an article.

Let’s FRED That!
What are some of the most popular or most often
used series in FRED?
Fortova: The consumer price index—which is a measure
of inflation
by the Bureau of Labor
Making
chartsand
(for published
curious readers)
“Everyone interested in economics should know
about Fred, which has made my life a lot easier.”

Making charts
(for curious read
ers)
“E

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times, June 17, 2009

veryone intereste
d in economics sh
ould know
about Fred, which
has made my life
a
lot easier.”
By Paul Krugman,
The New York
Times, June 17,
2009

FRED Goes Global

Statistics—is one of the most popular series in FRED.
But we have many others, such as gross domestic
product from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
It’s interesting to see how popularity changes over
time based on what users are looking for. Recently, a
lot of yield curve series have been gaining in popularity,
especially the spread between short-term and long-term
Treasuries.

Let’s FRED That!
Discover more of the FRED
team’s favorite data series
to track at stlouisfed.org/
annual-report/2018.

Stierholz: During the financial crisis, the weekly unemployment claims data was the most popular. As unemployment went up and as people were very concerned
about the economy, that series became incredibly
popular and was the most popular series for quite a
while. And that reflects peoples’ concerns about what’s
going on. FRED actually answers peoples’ immediate
questions about the economy.

“Regular readers know that I’m a huge fan and heavy user of FRED,
the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s wonderful data site.”
By Paul Krugman, The New York Times, Jan. 28, 2011
FR
ED Goes Globa
l

“Regular readers
know that I’m a
huge fan and heav
the Federal Rese
y user of FRED,
rve Bank of St. Lo
uis’s wonderful
By Paul Krugm
an, The New Yor
data site.”
k Tim
es, Jan. 28, 2011

stlouisfed.org |

What are some of the most unusual series you might
find in FRED?
Fortova: One of the most notable is our extensive
historical series published by the National Bureau of
Economic Research. In that data set, you can find series
on shipments of sinks and toilets to the U.S. during the
industrialization of indoor plumbing. You can really see
the correlation of the two items during that time.

users? We really are making careful decisions on which
data sets will hit the FRED mark.

The Future of FRED
Where will FRED go next?
Taylor: I would say in general we’ve got the U.S.
macroeconomy pretty solid with our data sets. There are
some gaps that we could fill, but I think the future data
acquisitions will be international and probably more
socioeconomic, less traditional macroeconomics.
Stierholz: One thing that might surprise people is a
third of the people who come to FRED are international.
So, we serve a public that is larger than the United
States. We serve the world.

The Future of FRED
We have a series published by the Bank of England
of the population of England. That one goes all the way
back to 1086, the year of the Domesday Book. Who
would have known data existed back then?

Learn how old FRED is and
more about the team’s
aspirations for the database
at stlouisfed.org/annualreport/2018.

What do you see FRED growing into?
And how do you see people using FRED?

How do you decide the data series that get put
into FRED?
Fortova: In reality, the FRED team is small, and our
bucket list of data sets that we wish to add to FRED is
fairly large. When trying to decide what data sets to add
to FRED, we look at many different aspects. We look
at what kind of institution or organization the data is
coming from. Is it a reliable data set? How can it benefit

| Annual Report 2018

Taylor: In the immediate future, we’re really focused
on helping people find economic information or data
sets, and then, once they’ve found it, to quickly understand it. And, of course, we’re always adding more data
to FRED. That’s a continuous process.
Longer term, we want to focus on helping people
understand the data: either pulling in additional content
or working more closely with the providers of data to
make sure that we’re presenting it in the best way
possible so that users have the best experience.
Stierholz: We really want to focus on the user experience. Some of that will be small things that people don’t
notice. Perhaps if there’s a busy part of the page, we dial
that down. We test and make sure that people can use
the page easily, can understand how to make transformations and can do some of the sophisticated things
you can do in FRED.

Taylor: Also, then starting to integrate our other data
products: Imagine looking at a FRED graph and having a
policy paper that talks about that, or an ALFRED graph,
all on the same page. You have a richer experience, a
better understanding of economics, and it’s not just the
data in isolation.
Fortova: There’s always a chance for improvement,
so our plans are to devote time to looking at different
search possibilities and seeing if we can provide users
with a better experience: how to find series in FRED and,
with that, how we can link our FRED products together.
Ideally, we would really like world dominance [laughs].
I don’t think people can really imagine their lives without
cellphones. We would like them to not imagine their

Visit FRED at the
Economy Museum

lives without FRED.

What are you curious about? Come
inside the St. Louis Fed, and immerse
yourself in one of the nation’s leading
economy museums. Use the FRED app
in an interactive exhibit to find search
results. Try out GeoFRED on the big
screen. Explore nearly 100 fun and
interactive games, exhibits and videos
on the economy.

FREE admission
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Plan your visit:
stlouisfed.org/economymuseum

#LetsFREDthat

stlouisfed.org |
©GettyImages/PeopleImages/E+

FRED at a Glance

data sources
worldwide

Bureau of
Economic
Analysis

Free to all, easy to customize and updated 24 hours a day. FRED puts
the power of data, and the tools to understand them, in people’s hands.

What’s in FRED?

All numbers are as of Dec. 31, 2018.

International Monetary Fund

regional, national and
international data series
Most popular U.S. series

World Bank

Most popular non-U.S. series

S&P Dow Jones
Indices LLC
Bureau of Labor Statistics

Eurostat
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development

Census Bureau
BOARD OF GOVERNORS

How the service evolved
1991: Launch year
FRED debuts as a free, dial-up
bulletin board with 30 data series.

600,000

1995: To the web
FRED moves online with 865 data series.
It’s accessed about 6,000 times per week.

NUMBER OF DATA SERIES

500,000

2010: Regional series
FRED expands to 24K data series,
with more than 21K regional ones.

2004: New formats
FRED offers downloads in Excel and text.
The same year, FRASER launches.

400,000

2005: ALFRED’s launch
FRED’s sibling is born, offering vintage versions of data
available on specific dates in history.

300,000

2007: GeoFRED mapping
FRED’s worldly ways enable users to create, customize
and share geographical maps of data in FRED.

200,000

100,000

865

2,900

3,000

11,000

1991

1995

2004

2005

2007

18,724
2008

20,024
2009

24,000
2010

Who Uses FRED?
FRED users run the gamut from policymakers and researchers to students, teachers, businesses
and journalists—basically, anyone who’s interested in accessing data to make informed decisions.

Where are FRED’s fans?

FRED saw visitors from
193 countries in 2018.

CANADA

JAPAN

CHINA
TX

INDIA

Top FRED Fans
Countries with the
most FRED users

AUSTRALIA

U.S. states with the
most FRED users

528,425

501,000
2014: St. Louis Fed centennial
FRED grows to nearly 240K data series
from more than 60 sources.

2018: FRED surpasses
520K data series from
sources worldwide.

384,000

294,000

2011: FRED App
FRED goes mobile, providing access to most
(34K) series in FRED on iPads and iPhones.

240,000
2017: FREDcast
The interactive forecasting
game is released for use
with FRED accounts.

154,000
48,000
41,000

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

FRED FEATURE ESSAYS: PART 3

Economic Education and
FRED: Keeping It Real
“What does this have to do with real life?”
—Every student in the world
By Mary Suiter

It’s an age-old question and not an unfair one. Students can’t always see how their studies
relate to the “real world.” So, Economic Education staff at the St. Louis Fed have developed
tools and resources for teachers to help their students make sense of the real world. And
FRED is an integral part of this mission.
With FRED (and its extended family), students have access to the most current data
from the most reputable sources. Specific classroom tools tap into the data in FRED and
offer graphs and maps that help reveal the world. Other tools use FRASER’s archive of
original source documents, which connects students to economic history. (See “Do You
Know FRASER?” on pages 19 and 20.) All these tools allow students to practice and
apply critical thinking and data literacy skills across many disciplines.

FRED in Real Life
Most students have seen headlines or heard news
reports about immigration, taxes and the U.S. economy
compared with other economies. FRED can bring some
objectivity and clarity to discussions about these issues.
For example:
• GeoFRED maps can show net migration flows
(the difference between the number of people
entering and leaving an area) for each U.S. county.
• FRED graphs can show how federal tax revenues
have changed over the past five years.
• A map of GDP per capita can show how the U.S.
economy compares with other countries’ economies.

| Annual Report 2018

Suiter leads the Economic Education team at
the St. Louis Fed. She
has taught economics
and personal finance
to teachers across the
U.S. and the world. She
has also written articles,
lessons and curricula
on economics and
personal finance for
K-12 classrooms.
Mary Suiter, Assistant
Vice President,
Economic Education

Members of the FRED team sometimes take to the road to show off the database’s power and capabilities, with classrooms and
lecture halls being frequent stops.

Moreover, with such a wide-ranging assortment of
data and information, this type of learning can occur in
a variety of classrooms. Economics and personal finance
classes are the most obvious, but history, social studies
and geography classes also can benefit from these tools.
Regardless of the course, teachers are always trying to
accomplish multiple goals in a limited amount of time. Economic education staff, librarians, data experts and teachers
at the St. Louis Fed are continually creating resources to
make the task easier and the effort more effective.

Lessons in History, Social Studies
and Geography
U.S. history teachers can use a St. Louis Fed lesson
titled “Everything Including the Kitchen Sink” to help
students understand how public health reforms inspired
a commercial response to the growing demand for
sanitation. Students analyze FRED data to see how
bathroom-fixture production changed throughout the
1920s. Then they examine original documents—1920s’
advertising—to see how companies fused the
Progressive Era with the new consumer culture.

#LetsFREDthat

stlouisfed.org |
©GettyImages/PeopleImages/E+

Raise Your Forecasting
Game with FREDcast
FREDcast, powered by FRED, is an interactive forecasting game. It allows users
to forecast four economic variables,
track the accuracy of their forecasts on
scoreboards, and compete with friends
and other users in leagues. It’s a hit
with teachers, students and economics
enthusiasts.
Make predictions for:
Senior Economic Education Specialist Mark Bayles speaks to
teachers and other education professionals about the advantages of using FRED and FREDcast in classroom instruction.

In another lesson, “Money for Nothing: Economic
Affluence in Postwar America,” students dig deeper
into the post-World War II economic boom through
the 1960s to see that a growing economy can occur
at all levels and affect people in different ways.
Social studies teachers are great at assessing and
analyzing documents to build a narrative, but what
about the teacher who shies away from numbers?
Tables, graphs, maps and diagrams can help provide a
graphical view of information and be a powerful way
to display evidence. So our librarians and economic
educators developed a “Historical Inquiry with Charts
Toolkit,” which provides a series of resources to help
students read, interpret and think critically about
charts in textbooks and historical documents.
Geography teachers can use our GeoFRED lessons
to help students create and interpret maps of data,
such as GDP per capita for every country in the world
or the unemployment rate for the counties in their
state. In a lesson titled “Demonstrating the Distribution
of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Using Patent Data
and a Mapping Tool: GeoFRED Marks the Spot,” students
learn about innovation, the distribution of innovation
across the country, and what can be patented.
For more economic education resources from the
St. Louis Fed, browse “Tools for Teaching” with FRED,
GeoFRED and FRASER (starting at stlouisfed.org/
education).

| Annual Report 2018

• Real gross domestic product
• Employment
• Unemployment
• The consumer price index
Forecasts are compared with actual
release numbers and scored monthly for
accuracy. Players can judge their performance by looking at their rankings within
leagues or for all FREDcast users.
There’s no cost to play FREDcast, so
set up your account today. Start at
research.stlouisfed.org.

FORECASTING GAME

FRED FEATURE ESSAYS: PART 4

Do You Know FRASER?
By Aaron Collie and Genevieve Podleski

FRASER, the St. Louis Fed’s digital library of
economic history, was originally created to
store economic data publications. When it
launched on July 1, 2004, FRASER was
considered an adjunct to FRED’s database.
Former Research Director Bob Rasche, who was instrumental in the creation of FRASER (Federal Reserve
Archival System for Economic Research), believed that
economists need to be able to see the data as they were
published to understand the “expectational forces” that
sway the economy (that is, the expectations that the data
created at the time). Data contained in FRASER are frozen
in a specific moment and show the limitations of estimation and forecasting in a way that continually revised
FRED data cannot.
The FRASER collection started with just a handful of
scanned statistical publications, one data release from
the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and one Senate
document related to the Federal Reserve Act. But FRASER
has grown significantly in its 15 years, with input and guidance from Fed economists, museum and archives partners,
educators, and scholars such as Allan Meltzer, who literally
“wrote the book” on the Fed.
FRASER holds over a half-million documents today,
including:
• The most complete collection of Fed statistical
releases available anywhere
• Unique digital copies of the archival papers
of Fed policymakers and economists
• Publications from across the entire Fed System
• A growing number of photos, videos and audio
recordings
All of this helps explain the decisions that shaped the
U.S. economy while shedding light on the people who
made them.

Collie is the manager
of the FRASER digital
library. He oversees
collection development,
scanning and metadata
operations, and regional
and national digitization
partnerships. He is active
in the National Digital
Stewardship Alliance,
among other groups.

Podleski is a metadata
and outreach specialist who also serves as
FRASER’s reference
librarian. In her role,
she collaborates with
Research staff to improve
the visibility, usability
and educational value
of the division’s
online content.

Aaron Collie, Manager,
Digital Library Services

Genevieve Podleski,
Senior Analyst,
Research Information

stlouisfed.org |

The collection is now so large and eclectic that the
FRASER team of librarians and digitization experts has
created a variety of signposts and tools to help guide
users. Like your local library’s collection, FRASER is
searchable by author, title or subject. Users can also
browse “themes,” or special collections of the best or
most-thorough FRASER documents on topics such as
“The Great Depression” or “Women in the Economy.”
Teachers and students of all ages can find ready-to-go
classroom materials in the “Teaching and Learning with
FRASER” portal. History buffs can follow us on Twitter
(@FedFRASER) for daily updates on everything FRASER,
from Alexander Hamilton to market commentary on
1978’s top-selling Cher doll. And the Inside FRASER blog
provides a deeper dive where readers can learn about the
Fed’s famous “punch bowl” metaphor or the history of
the $20 bill.
To browse the collection or for help with how to use
FRASER, start at fraser.stlouisfed.org.

“As a librarian, it’s much faster and easier for
me to use a digitized version in FRASER than
it is to use our library’s own physical copy.”

Marie Concannon,
Head of Government
Information and Data
Archives, University of
Missouri—Columbia

FRASER in the Library
Marie Concannon is head of Government Information and Data Archives for Ellis Library at the University
of Missouri—Columbia. Ellis Library has over 3 million
books, but since most of the older volumes are in
remote storage, the staff often directs patrons to the
digital realm. One go-to tool that Concannon and
her team of library professionals use frequently
is FRASER:
“As a librarian, it’s much faster and easier for me to
use a digitized version in FRASER than it is to use our
library’s own physical copy. With FRASER, you can
search an entire volume for words or phrases within
a few seconds. Its page-level linking feature allows
me to easily share the results of my search. It’s great
for providing reference service!
“Our library maintains a website that points to data

Hear the voices of economist Milton
Friedman and others who helped shape the
U.S. economy in this Timely Topics podcast.
David Wheelock, St. Louis Fed group vice
president and deputy director of research,
provides historical and policy background,
and FRASER’s director Katrina Stierholz
talks about oral history interviews and other
resources available in FRASER.
Listen at stlouisfed.org/timely-topics.

tables found in primary source, digitized books and
government documents. Roughly half of our links
lead to pages in the FRASER digital library. We feel
confident pointing to FRASER because it provides
‘envelope information’ for every page. Even first-time
visitors can easily see and understand the source for
the data they view.
“These days, when anyone can put content on
the web, it is crucial to have access to trustworthy,
authentic economic data from authoritative sources.
FRASER provides all of that.”

| Annual Report 2018

FRED FEATURE ESSAYS: PART 5

FRED’s Got Friends
By George Fortier

FRED in College
Students who take an economics class with Diego
Mendez-Carbajo, professor of economics at Illinois
Wesleyan University, will learn about FRED. And, more
importantly, it means they will learn by using FRED.
Mendez-Carbajo has been a strong believer in the
St. Louis Fed’s economic database for most of his
career, and he shares FRED with his students through
lectures, in-class assignments and homework. “I started
using FRED in my classes,” he said, “because it allows
my students to gain insights into economics through
its easy-to-use data visualization resources.”

“With the FRED site,
graphing the data is
only the beginning.”

Diego Mendez-Carbajo,
Professor of Economics,
Illinois Wesleyan University

Fortier is manager of the Research
division’s publications group at the
St. Louis Fed. He oversees numerous publications including Review,
Economic Synopses, Agricultural
Finance Monitor, Page One
Economics and the FRED Blog.

George Fortier, Managing Editor, Research Publications

game-changers. And FRED’s ability to combine data
series from different sources into one graph made me
redesign all my assignments.”
FRED also fosters a collaborative environment for
conducting and sharing research, including the research
his students undertake. “When students come to me for
advice on how to locate and gather data, the process
always starts with FRED,” Mendez-Carbajo said.
FRED dashboards allow him to save his work for
repeated use and share it with his students and colleagues.
“I love talking about FRED,” he said. “Many series in FRED
also can be mapped through GeoFRED. With the FRED
site, graphing the data is only the beginning.”

Mendez-Carbajo first learned about FRED when he
was a graduate student in the late 1990s, when data
began to migrate from printed yearbooks to the internet. “I remember the university library dedicated one
computer station for us, including access to a subscription statistical database whose name I’ve forgotten,”
Mendez-Carbajo said. “But I remember FRED!”
As FRED has matured into a much larger, multifaceted resource, Mendez-Carbajo has adapted his teaching to take full advantage: “To me, FRED’s ability to
transform the data without downloading it first into a
spreadsheet and the significant graphing flexibility were
stlouisfed.org |

“I use FRED as a
practical resource for
data searching.”

Charissa Jefferson, Business
and Data Librarian, California
State University, Northridge

FRED in the Library
Charissa Jefferson is another FRED enthusiast. As a
business and data librarian at California State University,
Northridge, Jefferson believes in the value of data
literacy. “I use FRED as a practical resource for data
searching and creation in the library instruction classroom,” she said.
Jefferson is a librarian, but she’s also an educator
who instructs students in how to understand and use
data to answer questions and solve problems. Because
she is a data educator, she looked to the St. Louis Fed’s
Economic Education team for resources. “One of the
first FRED tools that exposed my students to FRED was
‘10 FRED Activities in 10 Minutes,’” she recalled. “This
helped me learn about breaking down tasks in FRED
in manageable steps and guiding the student from an
initial data search through creation of a FRED graph.”
Since then, she has used more FRED tools to engage
her students: “Teaching with FRED leverages my data
information literacy instruction, because I can facilitate
a discussion with it.”

“FRED’s tools are both
accessible for generalists
and powerful for specialists, adding real value.”

Kristin Fontichiaro, Clinical
Associate Professor, University of
Michigan School of Information

Kristin Fontichiaro is a clinical associate professor
at the University of Michigan School of Information,
teaching courses in information literacy, library and
information science, contextual inquiry, and user-needs
assessment. And, yes, she also uses FRED.
“Aspiring librarians, like those I teach, can be overwhelmed by the diversity of reference questions they
receive and the challenge of finding reliable information
quickly,” Fontichiaro said. “FRED is part of our [department’s] resource starter kit because it is one-stop
shopping for a wide range of government data.”
Her librarian students study to educate themselves,
as students typically do, but they also aim to educate
and guide others in their own searches for content and
resources. Many subjects—such as economics, sociology
and history—tend to require strong data literacy skills.

“As their expertise evolves, these librarians recognize
FRED’s many other tools, like access to historical economic data, web-based visualization tools and economic
simulations,” Fontichiaro said. “FRED’s tools are both
accessible for generalists and powerful for specialists,
adding real value to libraries and those they serve.”
FRED’s many instructional resources help these educators
—and others like them—engage students in data-related
conversations and research. But what about those who
aren’t educators or students? Is FRED a valuable resource
for professionals, too? The answer is yes.

| Annual Report 2018

By Todd C. Frankel, The Washington Post, Aug. 1, 2014

Meet FRED, every wonk’s secret weapon
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By Todd C. Frankel, The Washington Post, Aug. 1, 2014

My Friend FRED

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2010

Kate Warne, Principal and
Investment Strategist,
Edward Jones

FRED in the Office
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By Paul Krugman, The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2010
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stlouisfed.org |

Where Can FRED Take You?
Join today’s FRED fans and others like them by learning how FRED can help you.
There’s always an opportunity to discover more.

Listen to the Timely Topics podcast.
stlouisfed.org/timely-topics

Watch the “Let’s FRED that!” user video series.
youtube.com/stlouisfed

Share your own #LetsFREDthat moments on Twitter.
@stlouisfed on Twitter
Read our blog for timely economic issues brought
to life in FRED charts. fredblog.stlouisfed.org

| Annual Report 2018

FEDERAL RESE RVE BANK

ST. LOUIS

CENTRAL TO AMERICA’S ECONOMY®

ANNUAL REPORT I 2018

Our Leaders. Our Advisers.
The Federal Reserve’s decentralized structure—the Board
of Governors, the Federal Open Market Committee and
12 Reserve banks—ensures that the economic conditions
of communities and industries across the nation are taken
into account when deciding monetary policy.
Members of our boards of directors and advisory councils
help inform the work of the St. Louis Fed by representing
the diverse perspectives of Main Street across the Eighth
Federal Reserve District.
The following pages list our board members from each of
the four zones of the Eighth District: St. Louis; Little Rock,
Ark., which is celebrating its centennial year; Louisville, Ky.;
and Memphis, Tenn. Members of our advisory councils are
also listed, as are retirees from our boards and our advisory
councils, members of the Bank’s Management Committee
and officers of the Bank.
All lists are current as of March 15, 2019.

stlouisfed.org |

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

Kathleen M. Mazzarella is the chairman, president and CEO of Graybar Electric Co. Inc.

| Annual Report 2018

What It Means to Be a
Trusted Provider
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis motto, “Central to America’s Economy,”
captures so well the daily drive across the organization to serve the public as
a trusted provider of innovative ideas and solutions.
This mindset influences the way the Bank’s economists
conduct cutting-edge macroeconomic research, and it
guides the development of critical financial management applications for the U.S. Treasury. It shapes the
Bank’s approach to providing comprehensive training
and certification programs for bank examiners across
the Federal Reserve System and inspires the creation
of innovative educational curricula for teachers across
the country. And, it is exhibited by the Bank’s renowned
publicly available data services tool we have come to
know fondly as FRED®—Federal Reserve Economic
Data—which is the subject of this annual report.
Launched in 1991 as an electronic bulletin board,
FRED has transformed over the years into an easy-touse online repository of more than 520,000 U.S. and
international economic and socioeconomic time series
from 87 different sources—all in one place. In providing
free access to such vast data, along with the tools to
analyze them, FRED puts the power to better understand the economy and economic issues in real time at

all of our fingertips—from the academic or financial expert
to anyone who is simply curious. That, in turn, better equips
policymakers, researchers, media, businesses, families and
communities to make better financial decisions.
As chair of the board of directors, I am pleased to see
how the Bank’s long-standing passion for innovation
and excellence has led to the creation of publicly available
tools like FRED.
St. Louis Fed employees are consistently focused
on the organization’s mission of ensuring a healthy
economy and promoting financial stability. This sense
of purpose is a main reason why the Bank was again
named a top workplace by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
in 2018. Furthermore, the mission defines what the Bank
has been since opening its doors in 1914: central to
America’s economy. The people of the St. Louis Fed
each day embrace a legacy of being independent-minded,
engaged, innovative and trusted—enduring qualities
that continue to strengthen our nation’s economy.

Kathleen M. Mazzarella
Chair of the Board of Directors
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

stlouisfed.org |

The Eighth Federal Reserve District
9I
2B

7G
12L

10J
8H

BOARD OF
GOVERNORS

11K

The Eighth Federal Reserve District is
composed of four zones, each of which

ST. LOUIS

is centered around one of the four cities

ILLINOIS

INDIANA

where our offices are located: St. Louis

LOUISVILLE

(headquarters), Little Rock, Louisville and
Memphis. Nearly 15 million people live in

MISSOURI

the Eighth Federal Reserve District.

KENTUCKY
TENNESSEE

LITTLE ROCK

ARKANSAS

MEMPHIS

MISSISSIPPI

| Annual Report 2018

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

St. Louis

CHAIR

DEPUTY CHAIR

Kathleen M. Mazzarella

Suzanne Sitherwood

Chairman, President and
CEO, Graybar Electric
Co. Inc.

President and CEO,
Spire Inc.

St. Louis

Patricia L. Clarke

Alice K. Houston

D. Bryan Jordan

President and CEO,
First National Bank
of Raymond

CEO, HJI Supply Chain
Solutions

Chairman, President
and CEO, First Horizon
National Corp.

Louisville, Ky.

Raymond, Ill.

Memphis, Tenn.

Daniel J. Ludeman

Elizabeth G. McCoy

James M. McKelvey Jr.

John N. Roberts III

President and CEO,
Concordance Academy
of Leadership

CEO, Planters Bank Inc.

Founder and CEO, Invisibly

Hopkinsville, Ky.

St. Louis

President and CEO,
J.B. Hunt Transport
Services Inc.

St. Louis

Lowell, Ark.

stlouisfed.org |

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Little Rock Branch
CHAIR

Millie A. Ward

R. Andrew Clyde

Keith Glover

Jamie J. Henry

President, Stone Ward

President and CEO,
Murphy USA Inc.

President and CEO,
Producers Rice Mill Inc.

El Dorado, Ark.

Stuttgart, Ark.

Vice President of Finance,
Emerging Payments,
Walmart Inc.

Little Rock, Ark.

Bentonville, Ark.

Vickie D. Judy

Jeff Lynch

Karama Neal

CFO and Vice President,
America’s Car-Mart Inc.

President and CEO,
Eagle Bank and Trust

Bentonville, Ark.

Little Rock, Ark.

President, Southern
Bancorp Community
Partners
Little Rock, Ark.

REGIONAL EXECUTIVE
Robert Hopkins
Senior Vice President, Little Rock Branch
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

| Annual Report 2018

Little Rock Branch Centennial

©GettyImages/Davel5957/E+

Because of its location along the Arkansas River and
close proximity to the center of the state, Little Rock
is well situated as the Arkansas state capital and as
an economic leader in the state.
After months of hard work by Arkansas bankers to secure a
Federal Reserve branch in their state, the St. Louis Fed’s Little
Rock Branch—the Bank’s third branch—was approved by the
Federal Reserve Board on Sept. 4, 1918. Four months later, the
Branch opened for business in the Southern Trust Building at
Second and Center streets. By the end of the year, the Branch
had 38 employees and served 57 area member banks.
For the next several decades, the Branch served primarily in
an operations capacity for financial institutions in the western
two-thirds of Arkansas. In 2003, restructuring decisions related
to its cash and check operations spurred a new mission for the
Branch: outreach. Employees focused on promoting the Fed’s
community affairs, community development and economic
education efforts, and on increasing the public’s understanding
of monetary policy and the economy at large.
To learn more about the Little Rock Branch, visit
stlouisfed.org/little-rock.

(Top right) For much of the Little Rock Branch’s history, cash operations were a primary
area of focus, including transporting cash to and from area banks.
(Middle right) Branch employees—shown here from the 1950s—have seen their areas of
focus shift over the years but have always been dedicated to serving the Eighth District.
(Bottom right) The Little Rock Branch has had a few homes—including the one seen here
from the 1960s—and currently resides in the Stephens Building in downtown Little Rock.

stlouisfed.org |

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Louisville Branch
CHAIR

Randy W. Schumaker
Former President and
Chief Management Officer,
Logan Aluminum Inc.

Patrick J. Glotzbach
President and CEO,
New Independent
Bancshares Inc.

Russellville, Ky.

Charlestown, Ind.

Ben Reno-Weber
Chief Storyteller,
MobileServe

Sadiqa N. Reynolds
President and CEO,
Louisville Urban League

Louisville, Ky.

Emerson M. Goodwin
Vice President of
Operations, KentuckyCare
Paducah, Ky.

Princeton, Ind.

Blake B. Willoughby
Chairman and President,
First Breckinridge
Bancshares Inc.
Irvington, Ky.

REGIONAL EXECUTIVE
Nikki Jackson
Senior Vice President, Louisville Branch
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

32 | Annual Report 2018

Millie Marshall
President, Toyota Motor
Manufacturing,
Indiana Inc.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Memphis Branch
CHAIR

Eric D. Robertson
President, Community
LIFT Corp.

Michael E. Cary
President and CEO,
Carroll Bank and Trust

David T. Cochran Jr.
Partner,
CoCo Planting Co.

Beverly Crossen
Owner,
FarmHouse Tupelo

Memphis, Tenn.

Huntingdon, Tenn.

Avon, Miss.

Tupelo, Miss.

J. Brice Fletcher
Chairman, First National
Bank of Eastern Arkansas

Carolyn Chism Hardy
President and CEO,
Chism Hardy
Investments LLC

Michael Ugwueke
President and CEO,
Methodist
Le Bonheur Healthcare

Bartlett, Tenn.

Memphis, Tenn.

Forrest City, Ark.

REGIONAL EXECUTIVE
Douglas Scarboro
Senior Vice President, Memphis Branch
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

stlouisfed.org |

Industry Councils
Council members represent a wide range of Eighth District industries and businesses, and report on
economic conditions to help inform monetary policy deliberations.

Agribusiness Council

Health Care Council

Bruce L. Ahrendsen

Rhamy Alejeal

Professor, University of Arkansas,
Division of Agriculture and Bumpers College
Fayetteville, Ark.

Owner and CEO, Poplar Financial
Memphis, Tenn.

John Rodgers Brashier

President and COO, TransMed Systems
Memphis, Tenn.

Vice President, Consolidated Catfish Producers LLC
Isola, Miss.

Cynthia Edwards
Deputy Secretary, Arkansas Agriculture Department
Little Rock, Ark.

Dana Huber
Vice President, Marketing/Public Relations, Huber’s Orchard,
Winery & Vineyards, and Starlight Distillery
Borden, Ind.

Wayne Hunt
President, H&R Agri-Power
Hopkinsville, Ky.

Jennifer H. James
Owner, H&J Land Co.
Newport, Ark.

Susan L. Lang
President, Bumper Crop Farm LLC
Somerville, Tenn.

Brett Norman
Business Development Manager, Trace Genomics
Memphis, Tenn.

Henry N. “Hank” Reichle Jr.
President and CEO, Staple Cotton Cooperative Association
(Staplcotn)
Greenwood, Miss.

Tania Seger
Vice President of Finance,
North American Commercial Operations,
Bayer Crop Science
St. Louis

Carla Balch

Mike Castellano
CEO, Esse Health
St. Louis

Zach Chandler
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer,
Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.
Memphis, Tenn.

Cynthia Crone
Research Faculty Member, University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences, College of Public Health, Department of Health Policy
and Management
Little Rock, Ark.

June McAllister Fowler
Senior Vice President, Communications and Marketing,
BJC HealthCare
St. Louis

Diana Han
Chief Medical Officer, GE Appliances, a Haier company
Louisville, Ky.

Lisa M. Klesges
Professor of Epidemiology, University of Memphis
Memphis, Tenn.

Leanne L. Lefler
Associate Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences,
College of Nursing
Little Rock, Ark.

Brandy N. Kelly Pryor
Senior Director of Programs, Humana Foundation
Louisville, Ky.

Robert “Bo” Ryall
President and CEO, Arkansas Hospital Association
Little Rock, Ark.

Alan Wheatley
President, Retail Segment, Humana
Louisville, Ky.

| Annual Report 2018

Real Estate Council

Transportation Council

Amy Berg

Bryan Day

President, S.M. Wilson & Co.
St. Louis

Executive Director, Little Rock Port Authority
Little Rock, Ark.

William “Bill” Burns

Michael D. Garriga

Broker/Owner, RE/MAX FIRST
Jeffersonville, Ind.

Executive Director, State Government Affairs, BNSF Railway
Memphis, Tenn.

Ray Dillon

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge

Former President and CEO, Deltic Timber Corp.
Little Rock, Ark.

Director of Airports, St. Louis Lambert International Airport
St. Louis

Martin Edwards Jr.

Bertram C. “Bert” Hodge

President, Edwards Management Inc., REALTORS®
Memphis, Tenn.

General Manager, Heritage Ford
Corydon, Ind.

John F. Eilermann Jr.

Stephanie Ivey

Chairman and CEO, McBride & Son Homes
Chesterfield, Mo.

Director, Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute,
University of Memphis
Memphis, Tenn.

Lisa C. Ferrell
Founder, President and CEO, North Bluffs Development Corp.
North Little Rock, Ark.

J.T. Ferstl
President, Ferstl Valuation Services
Little Rock, Ark.

David L. Hardy
Managing Director, CBRE Inc.
Louisville, Ky.

Larry K. Jensen
President and CEO, Cushman & Wakefield | Commercial
Advisors
Memphis, Tenn.

Greg M. Joslin
Senior Broker, Colliers International Arkansas
Little Rock, Ark.

Joshua Poag
President and CEO, Poag Shopping Centers LLC
Memphis, Tenn.

Lester T. Sanders
President-Elect, Kentucky REALTORS®
Lexington, Ky.

Mike McCarthy
President, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis
St. Louis

William J. “Bill” Mines
Senior Vice President of Finance and Strategy,
Supply Chain, Walmart U.S.
Bentonville, Ark.

Toks Omishakin
Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Environment and Planning,
Tennessee Department of Transportation
Nashville, Tenn.

Ferdinand L. Risco Jr.
Interim Executive Director, Transit Authority of River City (TARC)
Louisville, Ky.

David Tatman
Executive Director, Kentucky Automotive Industry Association;
Associate Vice President, Advanced Manufacturing,
Western Kentucky University
Rockfield, Ky.

Zach Wagner
CEO, Gateway Truck & Refrigeration
Collinsville, Ill.

Madison C. Silvert
President, The Malcolm Bryant Corp.
Owensboro, Ky.

stlouisfed.org |

Community Depository Institutions
Advisory Council
The members meet twice a year to advise the St. Louis Fed’s president on the credit, banking and economic
conditions facing their institutions and communities. The council’s chair also meets twice a year in
Washington, D.C., with the Federal Reserve chair and governors.
Ann Cowley Wells, Chair

Margaret “Marnie” Oldner

Chair and Co-CEO, Commonwealth Bank and Trust Co.
Louisville, Ky.

CEO, Stone Bank
Mountain View, Ark.

Russell “Rusty” Bennett

Bill Schirmer

President and CEO, First National Bank of Clarksdale
Clarksdale, Miss.

President and CEO, Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union
Evansville, Ind.

David Bentele

Scott E. Spencer

President and CEO, Citizens National Bank of Greater St. Louis
Maplewood, Mo.

Vice Chairman, President and CEO, Sterling Bank
Poplar Bluff, Mo.

David Doedtman

Marvin Veatch

President and CEO, Washington Savings Bank
Effingham, Ill.

President and CEO, Jackson County Bank
Seymour, Ind.

Craig Esrael

Kelley Workman

President and CEO, First South Financial Credit Union
Bartlett, Tenn.

President, Planters Bank Inc.
Hopkinsville, Ky.

Roy Molitor “Mott” Ford Jr.
Vice Chairman and CEO, Commercial Bank and Trust Co.
Paris, Tenn.

Gary Hudson
President and CEO, Farmers and Merchants Bank
Stuttgart, Ark.

| Annual Report 2018

Community Development Advisory Council
The council keeps the St. Louis Fed’s president and staff informed about community development in the
Eighth District and suggests ways for the Bank to support local development efforts.

Ivye Allen

Marta Loyd

President, Foundation for the Mid South
Jackson, Miss.

Executive Director and CEO, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute
Morrilton, Ark.

Arlisa Armstrong

Amanda Payne

Area Director, Rural Development, United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA)
Jackson, Tenn.

Assistant Vice President of CRA and Fair Lending Officer,
Independence Bank
Owensboro, Ky.

Jay Bassett

Hillis Schild

Division Chief, Governor’s Dislocated Worker Task Force,
Arkansas Department of Workforce Services
Little Rock, Ark.

Vice President and Community Affairs Development
Manager for Arkansas, Regions Bank
Little Rock, Ark.

Bryce Butler

Brittany Sims

Managing Director, Access Ventures
Louisville, Ky.

Program Director, Louisville Asset Building Coalition
Louisville, Ky.

Rodney Crim

Robert J. Wasserman

President and Interim CEO, St. Louis Economic
Development Partnership
St. Louis

Senior Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Community
Development Corp.
St. Louis

Kevin Dunlap
Executive Director, REBOUND Inc.
Louisville, Ky.

Timothy Lampkin
CEO, Higher Purpose Co.
Clarksdale, Miss.

stlouisfed.org |

Federal Advisory Council Representative
The council is composed of one representative from each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts. Members confer
with the Fed’s Board of Governors at least four times a year on economic and banking developments and make
recommendations on Fed System activities.
Ronald J. Kruszewski
Chairman and CEO, Stifel Financial Corp.
St. Louis

Retirees
We express our gratitude to those members of the boards of directors and of our advisory councils who retired
over the previous year.

From the Boards of Directors

From the Community Depository
Institutions Advisory Council

Little Rock

St. Louis

Kevin Beckemeyer
Shaun Burke

Robert Martinez
Louisville

Susan E. Parsons

Louisville

Karen Harbin

Memphis

Julianne Goodwin

From the Industry Councils

From the Community
Development Advisory Council

Agribusiness

Real Estate

St. Louis

Meredith B. Allen
Sam J. Fiorello
Edward O. Fryar Jr.
Chris Novak

Janet Horlacher

Debra Moore
Margaret S. Sherraden

Health Care

Jason M. Little

| Annual Report 2018

Transportation

David Keach
Judy R. McReynolds
Brent Stottlemyre

Little Rock

Amy Whitehead
Memphis

Kenneth S. Robinson
Cassandra Williams

Bank Management Committee

James Bullard

David A. Sapenaro

President and CEO

First Vice President
and COO

Karl W. Ashman

Karen L. Branding

Cletus C. Coughlin

François G. Henriquez II

Executive Vice President,
Administration and
Payments

Senior Vice President,
Public Affairs

Senior Vice President
and Chief of Staff to
the President

Senior Vice President,
General Counsel and
Corporate Secretary

Nikki R. Jackson

Kathleen O’Neill Paese

Julie L. Stackhouse

Christopher J. Waller

Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive,
Louisville Branch

Executive Vice President,
Treasury; and Treasury
Relations and Support
Office Product Manager

Executive Vice President,
Supervision, Credit,
Community Development
and the Center for
Learning Innovation

Executive Vice President
and Director of Research

stlouisfed.org |

Bank Officers
James Bullard*

Amy C. Hileman

President and CEO

Group Vice President

David A. Sapenaro*

Michael J. Mueller

First Vice President and COO

Group Vice President

Karl W. Ashman*

James A. Price

Executive Vice President

Group Vice President

Kathleen O’Neill Paese*

David C. Wheelock

Executive Vice President

Group Vice President

Julie L. Stackhouse*

Cassie R. Blackwell

Executive Vice President

Vice President

Christopher J. Waller*

Adam L. Brown

Executive Vice President

Vice President

David Andolfatto

Timothy C. Brown

Senior Vice President

Vice President

Karen L. Branding*

Marilyn K. Corona

Senior Vice President

Vice President

Cletus C. Coughlin*

Carlos Garriga

Senior Vice President

Vice President

Roy A. Hendin

Jennifer A. Haynes

Senior Vice President

Vice President

François G. Henriquez II*

Timothy R. Heckler

Senior Vice President

Vice President

Robert A. Hopkins

Debra E. Johnson

Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive

Vice President

Nikki R. Jackson*

Vice President

Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive

Michael J. Kraus

B. Ravikumar
Senior Vice President

Michael D. Renfro
Senior Vice President

Douglas G. Scarboro
Senior Vice President
and Regional Executive

Matthew W. Torbett
Senior Vice President

Jonathan C. Basden
Group Vice President

Timothy A. Bosch
Group Vice President

Anna M. Helmering Hart
Group Vice President

| Annual Report 2018

Terri L. Kirchhofer

Vice President

Christopher J. Neely
Vice President

Katrina L. Stierholz
Vice President

Donny J. Trankler
Vice President

Scott M. Trilling
Vice President

James L. Warren
Vice President

Carl D. White II
Vice President

Terri A. Aly
Assistant Vice President

Robyn A. Arnold

Lena Harness

Yvonne S. Sparks

Assistant Vice President

Alexander Baur

Karen L. Harper

Kristina L. Stierholz

Assistant Vice President

Jennifer M. Beatty

Kevin L. Henry

Rebecca M. Stoltz

Assistant Vice President

Heidi L. Beyer

Douglas B. Kerr

Mary C. Suiter

Assistant Vice President

Susan M. Black

Catherine A. Kusmer

Brenda Torres

Assistant Vice President

Severin J. Blenkush II

Carolann M. Marker

Bryan B. Underwood

Assistant Vice President

Ray J. Boshara

Jackie S. Martin

Yi Wen

Assistant Vice President

Winchell S. Carroll Jr.

Michael W. McCracken

Ranada Y. Williams

Assistant Vice President

Christopher D. Chalfant

Michael T. Milchanowski

Jeffrey S. Wright

Assistant Vice President

Nicholas J. Clark

Arthur A. North II

Christian M. Zimmermann

Assistant Vice President

Daniel P. Davis

Michael T. Owyang

Jeffrey M. Zove

Assistant Vice President

Andrea Donsbach

Christopher M. Pfeiffer

Dana J. Zydlo

Assistant Vice President

Jill S. Dorries

Daniel P. Riordan

Subhayu Bandyopadhyay

Assistant Vice President

Officer

William D. Dupor

Jennifer L. Robinson

YiLi Chien

Assistant Vice President

Officer

William R. Emmons

Lili Saint Christopher

Kevin L. Kliesen

Assistant Vice President

Officer

Kathy A. Freeman

Juan M. Sánchez

Fernando M. Martin

Assistant Vice President

Officer

James W. Fuchs

Craig E. Schaefer

Alexander Monge-Naranjo

Assistant Vice President

Officer

Patricia M. Goessling

Kathy A. Schildknecht

Guillaume A. Vandenbroucke

Assistant Vice President

Officer

Anthony Grantham

Philip G. Schlueter

Assistant Vice President

Stephen P. Greene

Amy B. Simpkins

Assistant Vice President

Tamara S. Grimm

Scott B. Smith

Assistant Vice President

*Members of Management Committee

stlouisfed.org |

FEDERAL RESE RVE BANK

ST. LOUIS

CENTRAL TO AMERICA’S ECONOMY®

ANNUAL REPORT I 2018

Our People. Our Work.
The mission of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
is to promote a healthy economy and financial
stability. Corporate social responsibility is rooted in
this mission, as the Bank’s 1,385 staff members—
from the District’s head office in St. Louis to branches
in Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis—work in the
public’s interest every day.
How does the St. Louis Fed make a positive
difference? Through its people and its work.
The Bank was named a 2018 Top Workplace and
President James Bullard St. Louis’ Top Workplace
Leader by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch based on an
employee survey. The following figures from the
past year offer a window into the St. Louis Fed.
All numbers are as of Dec. 31, 2018, unless otherwise noted.

| Annual Report 2018

Providing Thought Leadership
through Scholarly Economic Research

Top 3%

research ranking for President James
Bullard on RePEc in a number of categories,
including the h-index.

The h-index, or Hirsch index, is a compound measure of publications and citations used to highlight research productivity.

in research productivity for the St. Louis
Fed among all research departments at
central banks worldwide.
• #33 among all U.S. research institutions.
• #42 among all research institutions
worldwide.

2.7 million

economic research items from around the
world available to search and download for
free via IDEAS.

IDEAS is the world’s largest bibliographic database dedicated to
economics. This service, provided by RePEc (Research Papers in
Economics at ideas.repec.org), is hosted by the St. Louis Fed’s
Research division.

44 million

page views of the St. Louis Fed’s research
site by people in 193 countries.

528,425

data series in FRED, the St. Louis
Fed’s signature economic database.

120,405

page views for GeoFRED, a tool that
allows users to create, customize
and share geographical maps of data
found in FRED.

571,681

items in FRASER, the St. Louis Fed’s
historical digital library, with materials
dating from 1791 to 2018.
stlouisfed.org |

Fostering Financial
Stability

Empowering through
Education and Outreach

128

4,158

state member banks and 443 bank and savings and loan
holding companies supervised by the St. Louis Fed.

1.134 billion
currency notes inspected.

• 980 million notes deemed fit for circulation.
• 154 million notes removed from circulation and shredded.

2,572

suspect counterfeit notes withdrawn from circulation.

$35.5 million

in improper payments identified by the St. Louis Fed in its
role as fiscal agent to the U.S. Treasury Department and its
Do Not Pay program, helping federal agencies eliminate
payment error, waste, fraud and abuse.
Total is for 2018 federal government fiscal year.

32,024

hours spent by internal auditors reviewing St. Louis Fed
operations.

| Annual Report 2018

attendees at Dialogue with the Fed and similar outreach
events in St. Louis, Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis.

16,882

attendees at presentations requested through the
St. Louis Fed’s public speakers bureau.

27,556

bankers, regulators and other industry participants
in webinar and in-person information sessions held on
timely financial and regulatory developments.

450,000+

students reached through educators who attended
St. Louis Fed economic education programs.

1.3 million

student enrollments in the Bank’s Econ Lowdown
online economic education curriculum.

Sharing Timely Information
about the Economy and the Fed

2,761

students and their chaperones from 93 area schools
welcomed at the St. Louis Fed’s Economy Museum.

student appointees to the St. Louis Fed’s student
board of directors.

8,746 followers on Facebook.
10,924 followers on LinkedIn.
87,791 followers on Twitter.

• Named one of TraderLife’s 10 Trading
Twitter Accounts to Follow in 2018.

college and 8 high school students serving as
interns for the Bank.

• Listed on U.S. News & World Report’s
21 Pros to Follow on Twitter for Investment Advice.

$1,003,250

499,283

in grants, loans and investments committed to community and economic development projects through the
St. Louis Fed’s Investment Connection program.

page views for Regional Economist, providing insights
on economic issues in today’s headlines—in its 26th year
of publication.

8,895

12,914

people registered for 37 workshops, conferences,
forums and other events led by the Community
Development department to promote economic
resilience and mobility for low- and moderate-income
and underserved households and communities.

downloads of the Bank’s Timely Topics audio channel—
including 7,413 downloads of the new “Women in
Economics” series, which tells the stories of prominent
female economists as a way to open the door for more
young women to join the field.
stlouisfed.org |

Embracing Diversity and Inclusion

100

perfect score earned for a third straight year in the Human
Rights Campaign’s Best Places to Work Corporate Equality
Index, a national benchmarking tool for policies and practices
pertinent to LGBTQ+ employees.

354,482

page views for the FRED Blog, for a
49% growth rate in one year.

735,320

page views for On the Economy blog—
featuring commentary and analysis from
St. Louis Fed economists and other
experts—for a 68% increase from 2017.

Open Vault blog posts focused on everyday
economics for a general audience—in its
first full year of publication.

| Annual Report 2018

vendors benefited from the Bank’s Supplier Diversity
Outreach Workshops aimed at fostering economic
development in our communities.

90%

of inner-city, majority-minority and all-girls high schools
across the Eighth District reached by the St. Louis Fed’s
economic education resources.

23%

of the Bank’s workforce engaged as members of employeeled resource groups, which are focused on women,
African-Americans, Asians, military veterans and the
LGBTQ+ community.

Doing Good for the Sake of Good

138,157

pounds of waste recycled and 96,450 pounds of waste (including food)
composted as a result of the Bank’s Zero Waste initiative.

$238,417

donated by employees to the United Way of Greater St. Louis campaign.

$34,442

raised by employees to help support food banks and feeding programs
for the needy in the St. Louis area.

1,836

school items donated by employees to the Back-to-School Supply Drive
to benefit area students.

employee volunteers for Teach Children to Save Day at local
elementary schools.

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WOMEN

IN ECONOMICS

Hear St. Louis Fed economists and other experts talk
about topics in the news or issues related to the Fed in
our Timely Topics series. Our “Women in Economics”
series tells the stories of prominent female economists
and what led them to the field.
Listen at stlouisfed.org/timely-topics.

How competitive is your banking market?

What’s the state of U.S. household wealth?

Staff, research fellows and visiting scholars at the
St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability
study the determinants of healthy family balance sheets,
their links to the broader economy and new ideas to
improve them. Go in-depth by reading the research, or
check out an issue of In the Balance or Housing Market
Perspectives. Start at stlouisfed.org/hfs.

CASSIDI is a one-stop, online shop for information
related to banking competition around the country.
Find information on an institution or entire banking
markets. You can even see how a merger or
acquisition would change a market’s concentration.
Start at cassidi.stlouisfed.org.

This is just a sampling of the many free resources available to the public.
To see more, go to stlouisfed.org.
The Center for Household Financial Stability and CASSIDI are registered
trademarks of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

| Annual Report 2018

C O N TA C T U S

FOR ADDITIONAL COPIES, CONTACT:

CREDITS

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Public Affairs Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
P.O. Box 442
St. Louis, MO 63166
or email pubtracking@stls.frb.org

Doreen Fagan

One Federal Reserve Bank Plaza
Broadway and Locust Street
St. Louis, MO 63102
314-444-8444

Little Rock Branch
Stephens Building
111 Center St., Ste. 1000
Little Rock, AR 72201
501-324-8300

Louisville Branch
PNC Tower
101 S. Fifth St., Ste. 1920
Louisville, KY 40202
502-568-9200

Memphis Branch
200 N. Main St.
Memphis, TN 38103
901-531-5000

This report is also available online at
stlouisfed.org/annual-report/2018.

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