President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to Present H. Parker Willis Lecture Tom Barkin’s talk will be held March 27 in Stackhouse Theater.

By Brian Laubscher
February 19, 2025

Tom Barkin, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, will deliver the H. Parker Willis Lecture in Political Economy at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 27 in Washington and Lee University’s Stackhouse Theater. The event is free and open to the public.

Barkin joined the Richmond Fed in 2018 following nearly 30 years in various leadership roles with McKinsey & Company, a global management and consulting firm. At the Fed, he serves on the chief monetary policymaking body, is a member of the Federal Open Market Committee and is responsible for the Richmond Fed’s bank supervision and the Federal Reserve’s technology organization. Barkin covers the Fed’s Fifth District, which includes South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. His engagement in the region has brought real attention to areas facing economic challenges.

“We are so pleased to welcome Tom Barkin to W&L,” said Rob Staughan, Crawford Family Dean of the Williams School. “He is the third president of the Richmond Fed to deliver the H. Parker Willis Lecture, including Al Broaddus ’61, who delivered the lecture in 2007.”

Before joining the Richmond Fed, Barkin served on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 2009 to 2014 and was the board’s chairman from 2013 to 2014. At McKinsey & Company, he served as a senior partner, chief financial officer and chief risk officer. He oversaw McKinsey’s offices in the southern United States, led multiple functional areas and provided strategic counsel to a diverse portfolio of clients.

Barkin has served on the executive committee of Metro Atlanta’s Chamber of Commerce, the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the Commerce Club and the Emory University Board of Trustees. He was also a member of the United States Golf Association (USGA) Executive Committee from 2017 to 2023.

Barkin holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a juris doctor from Harvard Law School.

The H. Parker Willis Lecture series, started by the late John M. Gunn ’45, the Lewis Whitaker Adams Professor of Economics Emeritus at W&L, honors the first dean of W&L’s School of Commerce, H. Parker Willis (1874-1937). Willis served as an economic adviser to Congressman Carter Glass of the Sixth District of Virginia. He was also a consultant to the House Banking and Currency Committee in 1912 and 1913, during which time the creation of the Federal Reserve System was being considered.

“Since its launch, the Willis Lecture has brought leading Federal Reserve economists to our campus, and I am pleased that we can provide our students and the broader community with opportunities to hear from leading monetary policymakers,” said Straughan. “I want to thank John Gunn, who sadly passed away in 2021, for creating this lecture series and professor of economics Linda Hooks for her leadership in arranging the Willis Lectures since their founding.”