Esther L. George is first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. She was appointed to the position in 2009 and directs the Bank's operations throughout the Tenth Federal Reserve District. Additionally, Esther recently served as the interim director of the Federal Reserve's Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. From 2001 through her most recent appointment, Esther was senior vice president in charge of the Division of Supervision and Risk Management. In that position, she was responsible for the supervision and regulation of the District's 170 state-chartered member banks and nearly 1,000 bank and financial holding companies, as well as the Bank's discount window and risk management functions. During her tenure in banking supervision, she was directly involved in the Tenth District’s banking supervision and discount window lending activities during the banking crisis of the 1980s and post-9/11. She is a former chair of the Federal Reserve System's Community Banking Organizations Management Group. She is also a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Management Committee, which is responsible for strategic planning and policy direction.

Beyond the Tenth Federal Reserve District, Esther’s experience in international central banking issues includes presentations at the Bank for International Settlement’s Financial Stability Institute programs in Lima, Peru, and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Esther also serves as the Tenth District’s lead officer for international partnership programs involving the central banks of Morocco and Iraq. Additionally, she participates in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual symposium that is attended by central bankers from around the globe.

Esther joined the Bank in 1982 and was appointed to the official staff in 1995. She has held various leadership positions with the Bank, including in the Bank’s research support functions, Public Affairs and Human Resources.

She is a native of Faucett, Mo., with a BSBA degree in Business Administration from Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph, Mo., and an MBA degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is a graduate of the American Bankers Association Stonier Graduate School of Banking and the Stanford University Executive Program.