Elizabeth A. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Bloomin' Brands Inc., has been reappointed to the Atlanta Fed's board of directors. Claire Lewis (Yum) Arnold, chief executive officer of Leapfrog Services Inc., has been appointed to the board. Michael Russell, chief executive officer, H.J. Russell & Company; Kessel D. Stelling Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, Synovus Corporation; and Claire W. Tucker, president and chief executive officer, CapStar Financial Holdings Inc. and chief executive officer of CapStar Bank have been elected to the Atlanta Fed's board of directors. Smith is serving an unexpired term that runs through December 31, 2019. Stelling is serving a term that runs through December 31, 2020. Arnold, Russell, and Tucker are serving terms that began January 1, 2019, and run through December 31, 2021.

Smith is chairman and chief executive officer of Bloomin' Brands Inc. in Tampa, Florida, where she is responsible for developing and executing the company's long-term objectives, growth strategies, and initiatives for its portfolio of casual and fine-dining brands. Since joining Bloomin' Brands in 2009, Smith's leadership has been instrumental in the revitalization of the company's core brands, both domestically and internationally. She has almost 30 years' experience growing brands in consumer-facing industries. Prior to Bloomin' Brands, Smith was president of Avon Products Inc., where she successfully led the company's global marketing, supply chain, information technology, and sales units. She also worked in several roles at Kraft Foods Inc., including group vice president and president of the U.S. beverage and grocery sectors, overseeing a total of $6 billion in sales.

Smith is a member of the boards of directors of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She received her bachelor's degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Virginia and MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Arnold has served in her current position since 1998. Prior to that she served as chief executive officer of NNC LP. Earlier in her career she worked in marketing at Coca-Cola USA and Leeming-Pacquin.

Arnold serves on the board of trustees of EARTH University Foundation. She is on the board of councilors of the Carter Center and serves on the boards of directors of SWM, the Technology Association of Georgia, Achieve Atlanta, Spelman College, the Woodruff Arts Center, and the Atlanta Committee for Progress. Arnold served for many years as a trustee of Mary Baldwin College (five years as its chair) and as the chair of the board of the Georgia Conservancy. She is past president and past chair of the Rotary Club of Atlanta.

Arnold has been active in the Young Presidents' Organization, the Chief Executives' Organization, the National Conference for Community and Justice, and the Committee of 200. She was a mentor to younger women in the Atlanta business community. She was named the 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Business Chronicle and received the 2004 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award for outstanding performance as a corporate director. In 2006, Arnold was inducted into the YWCA Academy of Women and in 2009 received the Rotary Club of Atlanta's Armin Maier Community Service Award. She was named among the 2017 Women Who Mean Business and 2014 Most Admired CEO in the Technology Sector by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and received the 2014 Turknett Servant Leadership Character Award.

Arnold earned a bachelor of arts in mathematics and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Mary Baldwin College. She has attended numerous programs at the Harvard School of Business.

Russell has served in his current position since 2003 and spent his career at H.J. Russell & Co. in a variety of executive positions with increasing responsibility.

Russell serves as vice chairman for Concessions International. He is on the executive committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the board of directors for the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the Georgia Research Alliance, the University of Virginia Foundation Board, the Atlanta Rotary Club, and 100 Black Men.

Russell was inducted into the Georgia State University J. Mack Robinson College of Business Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2016, he was the National Kidney Foundation's Paint Atlanta Orange Honoree, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation Honorary Chair, and recipient of the Saving Grady Award.

Russell earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Georgia State University.

Stelling was named president and chief executive officer of Synovus in October 2010 and elected chairman of the board in January 2012. He joined the company in March 2006 when Synovus purchased Riverside Bancshares Inc., where he was chairman and CEO, and merged it with Bank of North Georgia. Stelling was named regional CEO of Synovus' Atlanta market in June 2008 and president and chief operating officer of the company in February 2010. Before joining Riverside, Stelling worked at Chattahoochee and Barnett Bank. His banking career began at First Railroad and Banking Co. in Augusta, Georgia.

Stelling was appointed to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia in 2008 and served as chairman in 2016. He also serves on the boards of directors of Georgia Power, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and the Georgia Historical Society and as treasurer and executive committee member of the Bank Policy Institute. He previously served on the boards of the University of Georgia Terry College of Business Dean's Advisory Council, Kennesaw State University, and Cobb Community Foundation.

Stelling earned a bachelor's degree in banking and finance from the University of Georgia in 1978 and is a graduate of the Louisiana State University Graduate School of Banking. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in business administration from the University of South Carolina in 2013.

Tucker has served in her current position since 2007. She also serves as a director of CapStar Financial Holdings and CapStar Bank. She previously served as Nashville City president of FirstBank from 2001 to 2006 and senior executive vice president of AmSouth Bank from 1999 to 2000. She held various positions with First American National Bank from 1975 to 1999.

Tucker is a member of the board of directors of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the board of trustees for Belmont University. She is a member of the Leadership Nashville (class of 1996), the Nashville Ballet Advisory Board, and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center board. Tucker served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Nashville Branch board for two years and is a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council. Other previous board positions include past chair of the Nashville Ballet, Nashville's Table, Second Harvest Food Bank, St. Luke's Community House, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, and Tennessee Wesleyan University.

Tucker received a bachelor's degree from Tennessee Wesleyan College in 1975 and an MBA from the University of Tennessee/Tennessee State University in 1982. She graduated from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking-Rutgers University in 1982. She received the Tennessee Wesleyan College Distinguished Entrepreneur Award in 2015 and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Southeast, Financial Services, in 2014.

Each of the nation's 12 Federal Reserve Banks has a nine-member board of directors. Three Class A directors are generally bankers and are elected by national and state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Three Class B directors are also elected by these banks but represent commerce, industry, agriculture, labor, and consumers. Three Class C directors represent the same broad array of public interests but are appointed by the Board of Governors in Washington DC. The Reserve Bank's chair and deputy chair must be Class C directors. Stelling and Tucker are a Class A directors, Russell is a Class B director, and Smith and Arnold are Class C directors.

The board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta oversees the management of the bank's operations and recommends changes in the discount rate. Board members also contribute to the formulation of U.S. monetary policy through the economic information they provide to the bank's president.