
Biography
Kenneth C. Montgomery is the interim president and chief executive officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a role he assumed October 1, 2021 while serving as first vice president and chief operating officer. Montgomery leads the strategic direction and effective management of the Reserve Bank’s regional and national responsibilities.
In a national capacity, Montgomery is leading the Federal Reserve System’s FedNowSM Service to support faster payments in the United States with interbank real-time gross settlement and integrated clearing. This initiative is part of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing, collaborative efforts to enhance the speed, safety, and efficiency of the U.S. payment system.
Montgomery also directs financial management strategies and operations for the Federal Reserve System’s Financial Support Office. He serves on the Enterprise Payments Committee, the Real-time Payments Oversight Committee, and several other governance and advisory committees. He is a former chair and current member of the Federal Reserve’s Conference of First Vice Presidents.
Prior to joining the Boston Fed in 2011, Montgomery was executive vice president and Federal Reserve System chief technology officer based out of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. In this role, he presided over a broad swath of information technology functions that guide and support technology groups at regional Reserve Banks across the Federal Reserve System. His responsibilities included business consulting, technology and strategic planning and standards development, information security policy and risk management, high-intensity solutions engineering, and overall national program management. Montgomery’s Fed career began at the New York Fed in 1983.
Montgomery, originally from Kearny, New Jersey, received a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University and M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
He serves as chair of the Boston Private Industry Council—Boston’s Workforce Development Board; and is an executive committee member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He serves as a national advisory board member and past vice chairman of the Advanced Cyber Security Center, a nonprofit consortium made up of industry, university, and government organizations, and is a member of the Massachusetts Cyber Security Strategy Council.
Work Experience
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Oct. 2021-
First Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Jan. 2011-
Federal Reserve System Information Technology (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond)
Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Feb. 2010-Dec. 2010
Deputy Director & Chief Technology Officer, 2000-2010
Senior Vice President & Division Director of Technical Services, 1999-2000
Vice President & Division Director of Technical Services, 1997-1999
Vice President of Technical Services, 1994-1997
Assistant Vice President, 1992-1994
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Manager, Contingency Operations and Quality Assurance, 1990-1992
Chief, Quality Assurance Division, 1988-1990
Chief, Switching Services Division, 1986-1988
Chief, Analytical Computer Division, 1984-1986
Assistant Chief, Analytical Computer Division, 1983-1984
Burroughs Corporation
Senior Systems Representative and Project Leader, 1981-1983
Education
B.S., Seton Hall University, 1981
MBA, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1989
Public Service
Chair, Boston Private Industry Council
National advisory board member and past Vice-Chair, Advanced Cyber Security Center
Director and Member, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee
Member, Massachusetts Cyber Security Strategy Council
“The Importance of Examining the Risks of High Leverage to the Real Economy”
November 8, 2021 |Virtual
65th Economic Conference
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Understanding Racial Disparities Is Essential to the Federal Reserve’s Full Employment Mandate
October 4, 2021 |Virtual
64th Economic Conference
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Role of the President
The president and chief executive officer guides the focus of the Bank’s economic research and gathers economic intelligence through interactions with the Bank’s board of directors, advisory councils, and other business and community contacts. The president represents the First District at the Federal Open Market Committee and provides key insights to those policy discussions. Additionally, the president and chief executive officer ensures the Bank maintains an effective system of bank supervision and contributes to collective Federal Reserve System actions and directions.
The process by which Federal Reserve Bank presidents are selected, appointed, and reappointed is set forth in the Federal Reserve Act. The president is appointed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors with the approval of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for a term of five years.