Any monetary policy committee needs to have a number of people on it that fully understand and can deal readily with the model behind policy deliberations, and who have an awareness of the lessons of monetary policy history. But other types of expertise also are valuable.
Policy works through financial markets, and those with that background contribute to understanding how policy impulses are being transmitted to savers and spenders. Experience in private industry is valuable for gathering and interpreting information from many business sources that we bring to FOMC deliberations. Any member needs to understand the basic framework to have influence on the debate.