Richard Dzina and Simon Potter to Step Down from New York Fed

May 28, 2019

NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that Simon Potter, executive vice president and head of the Markets Group, and Richard Dzina, executive vice president and head of the Financial Services Group, will be stepping down from their respective roles effective June 1, 2019. The New York Fed will conduct a broad and thorough search for their successors.

John C. Williams, president and chief executive officer of the New York Fed, named Ray Testa, chief operating officer of the Markets Group, as interim head of the Markets Group, and Chris Armstrong, senior vice president of cash operations, as interim head of the Financial Services Group, starting immediately. The role of product director for the Wholesale Product Office will revert to Michael Strine, the Bank’s first vice president and chief operating officer, until a new head of the Financial Services Group is in place.

Mr. Potter joined the New York Fed in June 1998 as an economist after a career in academia. Mr. Potter served as director of economic research and co-head of the Research and Statistics Group at the New York Fed, prior to becoming head of the Markets Group in June 2012. In this role, he oversaw the implementation of domestic open market and foreign exchange trading operations on behalf of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the execution of fiscal agent support for the U.S. Treasury, the provision of account services to foreign and international monetary authorities, and the administration and production of reference interest rates for the U.S. money markets. Mr. Potter has played a prominent role in the Federal Reserve’s financial stability efforts, including by contributing to the design of the 2009 U.S. bank stress tests, as a member of the international Macroeconomic Assessment Group that supported the Basel Committee’s work to strengthen bank capital standards and, most recently, as Chair of the Global Foreign Exchange Committee.

“I want to thank Simon for his leadership over the years,” said Mr. Williams. “His contributions have been of great value to the Bank, the FOMC and the System. Most recently, his deep experience in and understanding of markets were critical in helping the Committee think through and execute a path toward monetary policy normalization, and he has been a leading and influential voice globally on reference rate reform.”

Mr. Dzina joined the Bank in June 1991 as a bank examiner. Since becoming executive vice president and head of the Financial Services Group in July 2015, Mr. Dzina has overseen the Wholesale Product Office, which is responsible for managing the Fedwire Funds, Fedwire Securities and the National Settlement Services on behalf of the Federal Reserve System, as well as the Bank’s cash processing and distribution functions. Throughout his 28-year career at the New York Fed, Mr. Dzina has held numerous roles and responsibilities, including running Central Bank and International Account Services, the Bank’s international cash operations, and the market operations, monitoring, and analysis function in the Markets Group.

“Richard’s deep commitment to the Federal Reserve, its mission and people are always on display. He is the consummate professional, who’s made invaluable contributions throughout his long and distinguished tenure for which I am grateful. Among which, I would note his leadership on FedWire modernization, his financial crisis-era work operationalizing numerous liquidity facilities, and his sponsorship of the Payments Risk Committee,” said Mr. Williams.

“Both Simon and Richard have contributed greatly throughout their careers and they each leave a substantial and substantive legacy. Not least of which is the depth and breadth of talent they’ve nurtured at the Bank and on their teams, which is why I have every confidence in the teams’ abilities to continue to execute on our mission. I wish them both all the best in their future endeavors,” added Mr. Williams.