“President Obama should nominate Sheila Bair as vice chairwoman for supervision at the Federal Reserve. This position was created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation (Section 1108 in Title XI) but has gone unfilled for nearly three years – clearly not in line with the intentions of legislators, who even specified that this official should testify before Congress on a semiannual basis.

“Ms. Bair is an experienced regulator, the former chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the author of “Bull by the Horns,” an excellent book on what went wrong with the financial system and how to fix it. She currently works as an effective advocate for financial reform as a senior adviser at the Pew Charitable Trusts, and she founded and is chairwoman of the Systemic Risk Council (I am a member of this council).

“No one has stronger bipartisan support and a better working relationship with reasonable people across Washington. There is now a potential vacancy on the Fed board, as Elizabeth Duke’s term as governor expired more than a year ago; she continues to serve until a successor is appointed. The reformist wing at the Fed desperately needs serious reinforcement.”

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Read Simon Johnson’s full Economix blog post here