(Reuters) – U.S. president Joe Biden appointed Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson as Federal Reserve Board of Governors. These two Black economists will bring a historical measure of diversity into the U.S. central banking leadership.

Biden also appointed Sarah Bloom Raskin (former Fed Governor) to the Fed’s vice-chair for supervision. It is America’s top banking regulator role. On Thursday, the White House submitted the nominees to Senate.

These choices, if approved by the U.S. Senate would see a record 4 women join the Fed board of seven members. This is in addition to the 12 regional heads at the central bank who set interest rates that benefit the biggest economy worldwide.

Cook, an economist from Michigan State University would serve as the Fed’s First Black Female Governor.

Only three Black Fed governors (all men) have been in existence over its 108-year history. Whiteness is the predominant characteristic of all current Fed governors, including Jerome Powell who was recently renominated Fed Chair.

Three female Fed governors have never existed at once, although from April 2011 to Mai 2012, women made up a majority of Fed governors as two of the seven Fed board positions were empty.

Let’s take a quick look at the nominees.

LISA COOK

Cook, an economics professor at Michigan State University, has been writing extensively on racial disparities. He documents the detrimental impact of anti-Black violence, gender inequalities, and innovation on economic growth.

It was an experience she has had as well. In 2020’s tweet, she called herself “battle-tested optimist”. She was born in Midgeville Georgia. Her scars are from beatings she received when she, along with her sisters, were desegregating schools.

Cook worked as an adviser to the transition teams of the Biden-Harris- and Obama-Biden administrations. From 2011 to 2012, she was a senior economic advisor for the Council of Economic Advisers. As a Stanford University researcher and an instructor, she has also taught at Harvard University. From the University of California at Berkeley, she received her PhD in Economics. George Akerlof (a Nobel-prize winner and the husband of Janet Yellen, U.S Treasury Secretary) was one of her instructors.

PHILIP JEFFERSON

Currently, he is vice president of academic affairs at Davidson College and dean in faculty. Jefferson has taught economics at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania and Columbia University for over two decades. After graduating from Vassar College, New York State, his first position was at the Fed as a research assistant.

His 2005 paper, “High-pressure Economy with Low Interest Rates” argued that the market for jobs is boosted by a low-interest rate economy. It is now so well-established at the U.S. Central Bank that it has been incorporated into the 2020 reform policy framework. However, at that time it was controversial. Some suggested that high interest rates might reduce the opportunities of workers and encourage investment in technology.

Jefferson’s writings also include extensive discussions on income distribution, poverty, wages and other topics.

SARAH BOOM RASKIN

Raskin, a Harvard-trained attorney with an economics undergraduate from Amherst College in Massachusetts was on the Fed board between 2010 and 2014. He then became the U.S. Treasury deputy secretary.

According to transcripts, Raskin was dovish about policy. He warned in 2013, that tapering too soon the Fed’s bond buying program could cause economic slowdown.

Given the alarmingly high inflation, many economists and Fed policymakers consider her opinion to be relevant to the Fed’s bid to reduce its bond purchases.