Finance/Insurance: THOMAS I. BARKIN

As leader since 2018 of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, one of 12 regional Fed banks, Barkin is responsible for bank supervision and the Federal Reserve’s technology organization.

A native of Tampa, Florida, Barkin constantly travels throughout the Fifth District, which covers South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Maryland. 

In June, he spoke about nationwide inflation spikes, addressing the Richmond chapter of the Risk Management Association. Although the rates had been higher than the Fed expected, Barkin said the body has “made clear we will do what it takes” to lower costs.

Before joining the Fed, Barkin worked for 30 years at global consulting firm McKinsey & Co., including as its chief risk officer. According to an April Bloomberg article, a House of Representatives investigation is looking into McKinsey’s work with client Purdue Pharma LP, which made the addictive painkiller OxyContin, and its possible role in the opioid epidemic. Barkin has not been a direct focus of the House committee, the article noted.

PERSON I ADMIRE: Martin Luther King Jr., because he had the vision to envision nonviolent change and the persistence to carry it forward.