Colombian American economist Adriana Kugler was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate as a Federal Reserve governor, the first Latina to join the Fed Board in its 109-year history.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a senior member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, said in a speech advocating for her confirmation that fellow senators had the chance to alter the course of American history.
"To hear her tell her story is to listen to the American dream come to life," Menendez said of the Kugler, whose parents immigrated from Colombia.
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Kugler, 53, an expert on labor and international economics, is the World Bank's group executive director for the United States. She took a leave from Georgetown University, where she is professor of public policy and economics since 2010 and also served as vice provost.
Kugler was also the Labor Department’s chief economist from September 2011 to January 2013, under President Barack Obama.
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