Cleveland Fed adds 3 Pittsburgh-area leaders to its business advisory council

The Cleveland Fed has appointed new members to its Southwest Pennsylvania/Northern West Virginia advisory council as part of its strategy to gather on-the-ground economic intelligence from business and community leaders.

They are: Benjamin Bush, vice president, public affairs, Allegheny Conference on Community Development; F. Duffy Hanna, president, Howard Hanna Financial Services; and Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, president, Washington & Jefferson College. They bring the number of members of the advisory council to 11.

“By design, Cleveland Fed board and advisory council members come from different industries and geographies across our district,” Beth Hammack, Cleveland Fed president and CEO, said via email. ”Each of them brings a unique, near-real-time perspective on how people who live and work in the district are experiencing the economy. These insights are crucial to ensure I and my team at the Cleveland Fed understand what’s happening on the ground — before it shows up in the official data. This input from business and community leaders complements the hard data and informs the discussions I have with my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee.”