About the Community Banking Research and Policy Conference


The Community Banking Research and Policy Conference is the nation’s premier conference for community banking-related research. The conference is sponsored by the Federal Reserve System, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and brings together community bankers, academics, policymakers and bank supervisors to discuss the latest academic research on community banking as well as important policy issues facing community banks. 

Held annually at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the conference also features the presentation of the results from the CSBS Annual Survey of Community Banks. Since its 2013 debut, the conference has attracted speakers from a wide array of backgrounds and disciplines, including:

Ben Bernanke, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

Cynthia Blankenship, Bank of the West, Grapevine, Texas

- Michelle Bowman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Lael Brainard, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 

James Bullard, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

-Gerard Cuddy, Beneficial Bank, Philadelphia, Pa.

Charles Evans, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 

Esther L. George, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 

- Patrick Harker, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

- Jelena McWilliams, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

- Loretta Mester, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Jerome H. Powell, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

- Randal K. Quarles, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

H.E. “Gene” Rainbolt, BancFirst Corporation, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Rebeca Romero Rainey, Centinel Bank, Taos, N.M.

John W. Ryan, Conference of State Bank Supervisors

Reid Ryan, R Bank and R Corp Financial, Round Rock, Texas; Houston Astros Baseball Club 

- Dorothy A. Savarese The Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, Orleans, Mass.

- Laurie Stewart, Sound Community Bank, Seattle, Wash.

- Julieann Thurlow, Reading Cooperative Bank, Lawrence, Mass.  

- Darrin Williams, Southern Bancorp, Inc., Arkadelphia, Ark.

 -John Williams, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Janet Yellen, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 


Speakers are noted with the organization they were representing at the time of their participation in the conference.