If you didn’t recognize Ben Bernanke from his days in the spotlight, orchestrating the Federal Reserve response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, you might have assumed he was just another number-cruncher in the little crowd gathered at the Dallas Fed building last night. Affable enough but shy, the former chief economic adviser to President George W. Bush (2005-2006) and two-term chairman of the Federal Reserve (2006-2014) maneuvered tentatively through the small-talking throng, evincing the most enthusiasm, it seemed, for the excellent hors d’oeuvres.
Bernanke had come to Dallas for Tuesday’s inaugural meeting of the Economic Growth Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Institute. Economic growth is one of six “program areas” of the former president’s institute, and each is supported by a high-level advisory council offering insight and advice on policies and programs. The institute and the Dallas Fed hosted a joint reception Monday for the new group, which includes such luminaries as Bernanke; Tony Garza, W’s ambassador to Mexico from 2002-2005; Ed Lazear, the chairman of W’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2006-2009, now a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution; and Al Niemi Jr., dean of the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.
During some brief formal remarks in the Fed lobby, Holly Kuzmich, senior vice president at the Bush Presidential Center, welcomed the guests and praised Matthew Rooney, the institute’s director of economic growth, for helping organize the new council and the evening’s get-together. Then Lazear, who will chair the council, took the podium. “It’s always nice to come back to Dallas—especially when you come from San Francisco,” he said, chuckling. “This is a breath of fresh air for me.” He noted that while the members of the new council are “all busy people, we plan to put a lot of energy into it.”
With that, the noshing and the small talk resumed. Among those partaking were former Dallas Fed research director Harvey Rosenblum; current Fed research officials Mina Yucel and Pia Orrenius; and Linda McMahon of The Real Estate Council, whose nonprofit group gave the Bush institute $50,000 over five years for the economic growth initiative. And, of course, there was Bernanke, way back in one corner, chatting affably but quietly, inconspicuously.
