Powell, the most battle-tested Fed chair, finishes his term | CNN Business

Washington —

The sharpest economic decline in American history, the highest inflation in more than 40 years, aggressive political attacks from the White House, and the worst-ever global energy shock.

Those are some of the extraordinary events that unfolded during the eight-year chairmanship of Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve, an institution tasked with managing the economy to achieve maximum employment and stable prices. Powell’s term ends on Friday, with Kevin Warsh now confirmed by the Senate to take the reins.

The outgoing Fed leader is known for being a steady hand who was collaborative and decisive, some of his former colleagues told CNN. They credited Powell’s leadership for the Fed’s success at handling the numerous economic crises of recent years, making him perhaps the most battle-tested Fed chair in the US central bank’s 113-year history.

“It’s hard to think about another Fed chair who faced such a combination of punches to the US economy,” Patrick Harker, who served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from 2015 to 2025 and worked closely with Powell, told CNN.