Former Chase Exec Is Clinton's Choice for Fed

President Clinton on Thursday announced his intent to nominate former banker Carol J. Parry to the Federal Reserve Board.

Reached at home in New York before the announcement, Ms. Parry said of the appointment, "It's coming," but declined to comment further. Formerly an executive vice president at Chase Manhattan Corp., Ms. Parry resigned in June from her post as head of its community development group.

The White House said it expected to deliver the nomination paperwork to the Senate late Thursday.

If confirmed, Ms. Parry, 58, would be the sixth woman named to the Fed's board of governors. The most recent vacancies were made by two women governors, Vice Chairman Alice M. Rivlin and Susan M. Phillips, whom Ms. Parry would succeed. Ms. Rivlin resigned effective July 16, and Ms. Phillips served through June 30, 1998.

Ms. Parry would be the first Clinton appointee to the board who is not an economist. The only governor without an economics degree is Edward W. Kelley Jr., a Texas businessman and bank founder who was named to the Fed by then-President George Bush.

"We're very supportive of her. She's been very involved in community development," said Joe Belew, president of the Consumer Bankers Association.

"She was a banker before that," he added, "so she's not just a" CRA specialist.

At Chase, Ms. Parry was succeeded by senior vice president Mark Willis.

Ms. Phillips, a Bush appointee, now teaches at George Washington University.

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