Atlanta Fed Chief to Step Down

A major vacancy is coming up in the central bank’s hierarchy as Dennis Lockhart, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, has announced that he will step down on Feb. 28, 2017.

According to a Bloomberg report, has spent 10 years at the helm of the Atlanta Fed and was widely seen as a centrist who generally supported Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s approach to policy-making. In an interview on Monday, he expressed caution over the need for a rate hike when the Fed convenes to discuss the subject next week.

The Atlanta Fed has hired the search firm Spencer Stuart to identify potential replacements for Lockhart. However, the Fed has been under pressure from some elected officials—most notably, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—and progressive advocacy groups to put a greater emphasis on diversity in its leadership ranks. Ironically, this criticism has only begun to percolate during the chairmanship of Yellen, who is the first woman to run the central bank.