Ex-1st Interstate Economist, Bumped in Wells Merger, Joins Barnett

A. Lynn Reaser has been named the chief economist at Barnett Banks Inc., the Florida superregional banking company.

Ms. Reaser was previously chief economist at First Interstate Bank, Los Angeles. She lost that post two months ago when Wells Fargo & Co. bought First Interstate and scrapped the economics departments at both banks.

At Barnett, Ms. Reaser will assess global developments and interest rates, evaluate the national, regional, and Florida economies, and provide econometric analysis relevant to the bank's various lines of business. She will also serve on Barnett's asset-liability management committee.

Ms. Reaser, 48, has a doctorate in economics, as well as bachelor's and master's degrees, from the University of California at Los Angeles.

In California, she was a member of the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors. She was also a fiscal adviser to the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

She currently chairs the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Council, a group of nine bank economists that monitors banking and business conditions and meets with government economists and the Federal Reserve Board. She also contributes to the Blue Chip Economic Forecast.

At Barnett, Ms. Reaser succeeds John Godfrey, who left the chief economist's job last year to return to academia. He now teaches at Jacksonville (Fla.) University.