Dr. Anthony Santomero is the past President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a position he held from July 2000 until April 2006. While at the Fed, he served as chair of the System’s Committee on Credit and Risk Management, and as a member of the Financial Services Policy Committee, and the Payments System Policy Advisory Committee. He was vice chair of the Conference of Reserve Bank Presidents.

Before becoming president of the Philadelphia Fed, Dr. Santomero was the Richard K. Mellon Professor of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. During his 30-year tenure at Wharton, he held a number of academic and managerial positions, including deputy dean of the school. While at Wharton, Dr. Santomero established a reputation as a recognized consultant to major financial institutions and regulatory agencies throughout the world.

Active in the local and national community, Dr. Santomero serves on the boards of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the Union League of Philadelphia, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, and the Samuel S. Fels Fund.

In keeping with his commitment to education and research, Dr. Santomero serves on Drexel University’s Board of Trustees, the advisory boards of the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, and the Penn Institute for Economic Research. Internationally, he is chairman of the Economic Advisory Board of the Stockholm Institute for Financial Research and serves on the advisory boards of the Copenhagen Center for Law Economics and Financial Institutions, and the Italian Bankers Association's European Banking Report.

Dr. Santomero received an A.B. in economics from Fordham University in 1968 and a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University in 1971. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden, received in 1992, and an honorary degree from the University of Rome, awarded in 2003.

He recently received the prestigious title of Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana, an honorary knighthood from the Republic of Italy in 2005. He also received the Dean’s Medal from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1988 and was honored as recipient of the Global Interdependence Center’s 2005 Global Citizen Award.

He has written more than 100 articles, books, and monographs on financial sector regulation and economic performance. His two most recent books are Financial Markets, Instruments, and Institutions and Challenges for Modern Central Banking.