Fed Chair Warsh Names 15 Outside Co-Leaders for Five Task Forces on Communications, the Balance Sheet, Data, Productivity and Jobs, and Inflation, With No Deadlines Set

On July 9, 2026, the Federal Reserve Board announced the leadership and objectives of five task forces it has created to advance the conduct of monetary policy. The announcement came in a press release issued at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. This article reports what that release says, and it is careful to separate what is stated from what is not. The release names the groups, their objectives and their co-leaders. It does not set deadlines, promise policy changes or describe how the Federal Open Market Committee, known as the FOMC, will use the results.

What the Fed said it is doing

Chairman Kevin Warsh said the goal is "to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time." Each task force is co-led by external advisers, a group the release describes as including economists, business leaders and former central bank practitioners. Federal Reserve staff support the task forces, which are described as operating independently. Their mandate is to follow the evidence, provide candid feedback and produce rigorous findings for the FOMC, the committee that sets the Fed's interest rate target.

Each of the five groups has three co-leaders, which gives 15 outside advisers in total, calculated here. The release lists the co-leaders and their affiliations. It does not separately identify other members or chairs.

The five task forces

The first is Communications. Its objective is to review how the Fed conveys its policy deliberations and decisions under uncertainty. Its co-leaders are Peter R. Fisher, a professor of practice at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington; Arminio Fraga, founder and chairman of Gávea Investimentos and a former president of the Central Bank of Brazil; and Mervyn King, a former governor of the Bank of England.

The second is Balance Sheet Policy. It is to examine the costs, benefits and institutional implications of the Fed's current balance sheet regime. Its co-leaders are Karen Dynan, a professor of economics at Harvard University; Raghuram Rajan, a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; and Jeremy Stein, a professor of economics at Harvard and a former member of the Federal Reserve Board.

The third is Data. Its objective is to improve the quality and timeliness of the real economic signals that inform policy judgments. Its co-leaders are Raj Chetty, a professor of economics at Harvard; Doug McMillon, the former president and chief executive of Walmart; and Kevin Murphy, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

The fourth is Productivity and Jobs. It is to assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform policy judgments. Its co-leaders are Marc Andreessen, a cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz; Charles I. Jones, a professor of economics at Stanford University who the release says is currently on leave at Anthropic; and Asha Sharma, an executive vice president at Microsoft and the chief executive of its Xbox business.

The fifth is Inflation Frameworks. It is to revisit how the Fed understands and responds to the drivers of inflation. Its co-leaders are Greg Mankiw, a professor of economics at Harvard and a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Thomas Sargent, a professor of economics at New York University and a Nobel laureate; and William White, a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and a former economic adviser at the Bank for International Settlements.

Who the co-leaders are

The release describes the co-leaders as a mix of academics, business leaders and former central bankers, and the affiliations it gives bear that out. Among the 15, the release identifies economists at Harvard, the University of Chicago, Stanford and New York University, former central bank leaders from Brazil, the United Kingdom and India, a former Federal Reserve governor, and executives from the technology and retail sectors. Because the release lists only the co-leaders, this article does not describe the wider membership of any group.

What is not in the release

Several things that readers may expect are absent. The release gives no timelines, reporting dates or interim deliverables. It says only that more information will be posted periodically on the Fed's website. It does not say whether the groups' findings will be published, whether the FOMC will be required to respond to them, or whether any change to the Fed's framework, communications or balance sheet is planned. It does not state a budget or the number of staff assigned. It does not say how the co-leaders were chosen or whether they receive compensation. It does not mention the current interest rate target or any upcoming testimony to Congress.

How to read the announcement

The announcement is best read as an organizational step rather than a decision on policy. It establishes subjects for review and names the people who will lead the work. The objectives are phrased as reviews, assessments and examinations, and the release does not say what conclusions are expected. Any effect on interest rates, on the size of the Fed's balance sheet or on how officials speak to markets would depend on later decisions that the release does not describe.

The range of topics is notable. Two of the groups, Communications and Inflation Frameworks, concern how the Fed explains and understands its own work. One, Balance Sheet Policy, concerns an instrument the Fed uses in addition to interest rates. One, Data, concerns the information on which judgments rest. The last, Productivity and Jobs, concerns the effect of artificial intelligence and other new technologies on the economy. The release links this last topic to policy judgments but does not say what the Fed currently believes about those effects.

What to watch

The release says updates will be posted periodically. Readers can watch the Fed's website for any publication of findings, any schedule that is announced, and any statement from the FOMC about how the work will be used. Until then, the announcement tells readers who will lead the reviews and what each is asked to examine, and little more. This article is a summary of a public announcement and is not financial advice.