William English's Very Big Job at the Fed

William English, the Federal Reserve economist about to become Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's top monetary policy adviser, has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. As a grad student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he counted Bernanke, then a 29-year-old visiting professor from Stanford University, among his teachers. As a Yale University undergrad in 1980, English wandered into the gym where the varsity fencing team was practicing; the sophomore was recruited on the spot because of the competitive edge his 6-foot, 10-inch frame offered.

Now, with the retirement of his boss, monetary affairs director Brian F. Madigan, and Fed Vice-Chairman Donald L. Kohn, who had run the division for 14 years until 2001, the 49-year-old English is about to become one of the central bank's most important players. Much like fencing, the new job requires mental agility, including crafting how and when the central bank will reverse the most expansive monetary policy in its 96-year history without deep-sixing the U.S. economy along the way. The task is "about as challenging as any director of that post has ever had," says former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley, now senior economic adviser at Potomac Research Group in Washington. "Markets have become extremely sensitive to every word the Fed puts out, so a slight mishap and he could send markets for a reel."