Cleveland Fed taps Greater Akron talent pool for advisers, leaders
Familiar – and influential – faces from in and around Akron are taking on new roles with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland .
The Federal Reserve System's board of governors appointed Richard Kramer, former chairman, CEO and president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company , as chair of the Cleveland Fed, effective Jan. 1. Before Kramer started in the role, he served as the bank's deputy chair, a position he began Jan. 1, 2024.
And Brian Anderson, former vice president of the Polymer Industry Cluster , began as Cleveland regional executive at the Cleveland Fed last year.
Cleveland Fed President and CEO Beth Hammack said bank employees and board members share insights with her from around the Fed's Fourth District, which covers Ohio and parts of a few surrounding states. Current topics of interest include conflicts in the Middle East and the growth of artificial intelligence.
"Having leaders from Summit County, having leaders from all of the district, really helps to give me a perspective on what's going on in the economy so that when I go to Washington ... and help set monetary policy, I've got those voices and those insights, which to me tend to be leading insights," Hammack said.
Kramer an invaluable resource to Cleveland Fed president, CEO
Retired as a corporate executive since January 2024 and living in Bath Township, Kramer said he believes his role as the top executive at Goodyear factored into his original appointment to the bank board.
As with other boards, Kramer said "strategy and succession and governance" figure into his and his fellow board members' roles and responsibilities.
Kramer said he served on the Cleveland Fed's search committee to find the executive. The committee selected Hammack, who took over as president and CEO in August 2024 after a more-than-30-year tenure at Goldman Sachs.
Hammack said Kramer "brings those insights around how you help motivate, excite, manage people – get the best out of them every day."
Kramer said he and Hammack recently visited the University of Akron's National Polymer Innovation Center and participated in a roundtable with owners and executives of small and large businesses.
"Rich has been just an enormous resource for me and for the team at the bank," Hammack said. "He has such depth of experience with his long career, having run a major Fortune 500 company, working in multinational, large complex systems."
In addition to overseeing about 1,100 Cleveland Fed staff, Hammack interacts with the other banks in the Federal Reserve System and the Fed's board of governors on visits to Washington. She said she leans on Kramer "very heavily as a sounding board" and values his input when making decisions.
Richard Kramer's advice for professionals seeking to join boards
In addition to chairing the Cleveland Fed board, Kramer also chairs the Cleveland Orchestra board of trustees and serves on other boards, such as the Cleveland Clinic Foundation's and Bloomington, Illinois-based State Farm's .
Kramer said professionals seeking a board position should think about what they can add to a for-profit or nonprofit organization rather than strictly obtaining a title or being associated with the organization.
"You want to be additive and accretive to that – and that means you have to get involved, you have to do your homework, you have to come prepared and you have to be willing to make those contributions," he said.
He added that tapping into "continued curiosity" is better than having a "closed mind."
"I always say, when you think about boards, you should follow the carpenter's rule, which is measure twice, cut once," Kramer said. "You listen, listen again, then you start to add to it because nine out of 10 times, you're going to learn a lot."
Cleveland Fed one of 12 banks in Federal Reserve System
One of 12 banks in the Federal Reserve System, the Cleveland Fed covers the system's Fourth District – all of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, the northern panhandle of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
Among its functions are supervising and lending to financial institution. The staff also performs economic research, where Anderson's role comes into play.
Hammack said Anderson builds relationships with companies and nonprofits in Northeast Ohio and Columbus and is on the "frontline of the data collection."
Through a spokesperson, Anderson said, "I wanted to join the Cleveland Fed so I could contribute to supporting a healthy economy, and I thought that my previous experience would add some unique perspective and value to the team. Working directly with people across the district helps us understand what’s happening in the economy, before it shows up in the data."
Greater Akron is further represented at the Cleveland Fed by board member Ramona Hood, former president and CEO of FedEx Custom Critical ; and Business Advisory Council members Carey Jaros of Clorox Purell (formerly GOJO Industries) in Akron, Christopher Bast of Kent-based Davey Tree and André Thornton Jr. of Mogadore-based ASW Global .
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@usatodayco.com or on X @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal's business and consumer newsletter, " What's The Deal? "
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Leaders from Greater Akron building Cleveland Fed strategy, operations
