*  *  *  Among the most important of my duties at the Federal Reserve is serving on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the body that makes U.S. monetary policy.
Nineteen men and women - the seven members of the Board of Governors and the Presidents of the twelve Reserve Banks - gather in Washington eight times each year to participate in FOMC deliberations on the course of monetary policy.1 If necessary, the FOMC can also convene by conference call between regularly scheduled meetings.