Dec. 5, 2003 – Wesley S. Williams Jr., co-chair of St. Thomas-based Lockhart Companies and chair of St. Croix-based Azimuth Trust Co., was unanimously elected chair of the National Conference of Federal Reserve Bank Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen on Thursday.
Williams will chair the body until 2005, according to a release, and meanwhile will continue as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Virginia. The national conference comprises the 24 chairs and deputy chairs of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks across the United States.
A partner part-time in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling, Williams has served since 1997 as a director of the Richmond Fed, where he also chairs the Committee on Bank Supervision and Regulation. The Richmond Fed serves a district encompassing Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and most of West Virginia.
The national conference consults and cooperates with the Fed board of governors and is involved in overseeing operations of the district banks. Fed operations include the exercise of monetary policy through interest rates and liquidity preservation, management of federally governed payment systems, enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act and public education in matters of economics and personal finance.
In Washington, Williams also chairs the executive committee, the Committee of the Whole, and the Finance and Investment Committee of the Smithsonian Institution's board of regents; is the presiding independent director of CarrAmerica Realty Corp.; and serves on the executive committees of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition and the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
On St. Thomas, in addition to chairing Lockhart Companies, he also chairs the Lockhart Foundation. On St. Croix, he chairs the board of managers and is an executive director part-time of Azimuth Trust, the managing general partner of Azimuth Alternative Assets Management.
Lockhart Companies Inc. comprises 17 real estate, insurance and consumer finance firms including Lockhart Realty, Guardian Insurance of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Heritage Insurance Co. of the British Virgin Islands, and Premium Finance Co. and its affiliates throughout the Eastern Caribbean.
Williams holds B.A. and law degrees from Harvard University, a master's degree from Fletcher School (as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow), and graduate law degrees from Columbia University and Virginia Union University. Last year, by command of Queen Elizabeth II, he was invested as an honorary Knight of the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
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