# Neel Kashkari **Neel Kashkari** has been President and CEO of the **Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis** since January 1, 2016. He is the rare Fed president with a political career. He ran the Treasury's [[Troubled Asset Relief Program]] in the 2008 crisis, and ran for governor of California as a Republican in 2014. ## Career | Years | Role | |---|---| | before 2006 | [[Goldman Sachs]] | | 2006–09 | Treasury; as interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, ran TARP | | 2009–13 | PIMCO | | 2014 | Republican nominee for governor of California; lost to Jerry Brown **40.0% to 60.0%** | | 2016– | President, Minneapolis Fed | ## Too Big to Fail His signature project is the **Minneapolis Plan to End [[Too Big to Fail]]** (November 16, 2016). It proposed common equity of 23.5% of risk-weighted assets and a 15% leverage ratio for banks with more than $250 billion in assets, far beyond anything regulators adopted. It was an unusually aggressive position for a Republican former Treasury official. ## The swing Kashkari was an outspoken dove through the late 2010s. He moved sharply hawkish after the 2021–22 inflation surge. On September 30, 2026, after the first hike in three years, he said "the longer the economy stays strong… the more I am questioning the tightness of monetary policy," and penciled in another hike in 2026 and one in 2027 (one source). No reporting suggests he is running for office in 2026. ## The 2026 hawkish bloc Dallas, Cleveland and Minneapolis all hold rotating [[Federal Open Market Committee]] votes in 2026, and their three presidents have voted as a bloc: | Meeting | Decision | The three | |---|---|---| | Jan 28 | Hold at 3.50–3.75% (10–2; Miran and Waller wanted a cut) | with the majority | | Mar 18 | Hold (11–1) | with the majority | | **Apr 29** | Hold (8–4), [[Jerome Powell]]'s last meeting as chair | **dissented together** against the statement's easing bias | | Jun 17 | Hold (12–0), [[Kevin Warsh]]'s first meeting | with the majority | | **Jul 29** | Hold (9–3) | **dissented together**, preferring a quarter-point *increase* | | Sept 16 | **Raised to 3.75–4.00%** (12–0), the first hike since 2023 | with the majority | In September the Committee came around to their position. On December 12, 2025 the Board reappointed all three to five-year terms running to February 2031 (one source). See [[Interest Rate Policy Timeline]]. ## See Also - [[Federal Open Market Committee]] · [[Interest Rate Policy Timeline]] · [[Troubled Asset Relief Program]] · [[Too Big to Fail]] - [[Lorie Logan]] · [[Beth Hammack]] · [[Kevin Warsh]] · [[Federal Reserve]]