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Press Kit

Executive Bios

Bank Officers

James Bullard
President and Chief Executive Officer

James Bullard is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, positions he has held since 2008. In these roles, he represents the Bank on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and directs the activities of the Federal Reserve's Eighth District head office in St. Louis and branches in Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn. [More]
[President Bullard's web page]

David A. Sapenaro
First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Sapenaro is currently the first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He is responsible for directing the Bank's operations at the St. Louis office as well as at its branch offices in Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn. [More]

Cletus C. Coughlin
Senior Vice President and Policy Adviser to the President

Cletus C. Coughlin is senior vice president and policy adviser to the president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and economics from the University of Iowa in 1974 and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina in 1981. Mr. Coughlin's principal research interests are international economics and regional economics. [More]

Karl W. Ashman
Senior Vice President

Karl W. Ashman joined the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis as vice president and manager of the Little Rock Branch in April of 1990. He transferred to the St. Louis office in September of 1995, where he was promoted to senior vice president of the Administration and Check Services. In this position, Mr. Ashman has District responsibility for the Check Services, Facility Management, Financial Management, Human Resources, Information Technology Services and Support Services departments. [More]

Karen L. Branding
Senior Vice President

Karen Branding joined the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in January 2011 as the senior vice president for Public Affairs. Ms. Branding earned her bachelor's in public administration from Drake University, her master's in public affairs from Indiana University and her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. [More]

Mary H. Karr
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Ms. Karr is senior vice president and general counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. As senior vice president, Ms. Karr has responsibility for the Bank's Legal division, serves as the Bank's ethics officer and is secretary to the Bank's board of directors. [More]

Kathleen O. Paese
Senior Vice President

Ms. Paese has more than 20 years of experience with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She is currently the senior vice president over the Treasury division, providing oversight and direction to the Treasury Relations and Support Office (TRSO) and numerous operational/technical services that the District provides to the U. S. Treasury. [More]

Michael D. Renfro
Senior Vice President and General Auditor

Michael D. Renfro has been the general auditor of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since July 10, 1989. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in Accounting and received his MBA in Finance from St. Louis University in 1987. He is also a certified public accountant and chartered bank auditor. [More]

Julie L. Stackhouse
Senior Vice President

Julie Stackhouse is senior vice president and managing officer of Banking Supervision, Credit, Community Development and Learning Innovation for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Prior to joining the St. Louis Fed in 2002, she was vice president and managing officer of the Risk Management Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [More]

Christopher Waller
Senior Vice President and Director of Research

Christopher Waller is a senior vice president and the director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He received his B.S. degree in economics from Bemidji State University in 1981, and his M.A. and Ph.D degrees from Washington State University in 1984 and 1985, respectively. His principal research interests are monetary theory, political economy and macroeconomic theory. [More]

Regional Executives

Robert A. Hopkins
Regional Executive, Little Rock Branch

Robert Hopkins is the regional executive of the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Branch activities include conducting regional economic research and gathering monetary policy input from business leaders across Arkansas, sponsoring and hosting community development seminars, and providing economic education. [More]

Maria G. Hampton
Regional Executive, Louisville Branch

Maria Gerwing Hampton is the regional executive of the Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which includes southern Indiana and western Kentucky. Branch activities include sponsoring and hosting community-development seminars, providing economic education, conducting regional economic research and gathering monetary-policy input from business leaders within the local community. [More]

Martha Perine Beard
Regional Executive, Memphis Branch

Martha Perine Beard is the regional executive of the Memphis Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which includes western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and eastern Arkansas. Branch activities include sponsoring and hosting community-development seminars, providing economic education, conducting regional economic research and gathering monetary-policy input from business leaders within the local community. [More]