Susan M. Phillips

Susan M. Phillips (born January 23, 1944) is an American economist who served as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board and Dean of The George Washington University School of Business.

Early Life and Education

Susan Phillips was born January 23, 1944 in Richmond, Virginia. As part of a military family she spent time in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and lived abroad in Germany and The United Kingdom. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Agnes Scott College in 1967. At Louisiana State University she studied to receive a master's degree in finance and insurance in 1971, and a PhD in finance and economics in 1973.

Academic Career

After a brief period as an assistant professor at Louisiana State, Phillips became an assistant professor of business administration at the University of Iowa from 1974 to 1976. After working as an economic policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in 1976 and 1977 she returned to the University of Iowa in 1978 as an associate professor.

Phillips went on to lead the University of Iowa's finances. Serving first as acting Associate Vice President for Finance and University Services in 1979, she was confirmed as an Associate Vice President of Finance and University Services in 1980. Her tenure at the University of Iowa was interrupted by her departure to work at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1981, but she returned as Vice President in 1987 where she continued to work until appointed to the Federal Reserve.

Political Service

Phillips was appointed a commissioner on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1981. When she was appointed chair of the commission in 1983 she became the first female to lead a US financial regulatory agency. She resigned in 1987 to return to the University of Iowa.

In 1991 Phillips was appointed by President George H. W. Bush as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, the third woman to hold that post. Her term ended on June 30, 1998.

The George Washington University

After leaving the Federal Reserve in 1998 Susan Phillips became Dean of The George Washington University School of Business in Washington, D.C.. She retired from the University in June 2010.