Scott E. Pardee Joins Middlebury College Economics Department

Scott E. Pardee has joined the faculty of the economics department at Middlebury College. On Jan. 1, he began serving as Christian A. Johnson Scholar-in-Residence, a position he will hold through Aug. 31, 2000. For the two-year period from Sept. 1, 2000 through Aug. 31, 2002, he will be the Alan R. Holmes Visiting Professor of Monetary Economics. Duties as scholar-in-residence may include guest lectures in economics classes or lectures for a broader audience, and consulting for the economics department, international studies program, or other college offices. As Holmes Professor, he will teach two courses in each of the fall and spring semesters.

“This position is a distinguished one, and we are happy to have such a prominent economist to fill this appointment,” said Sunder Ramaswamy, chair of the economics department.

“It is an honor and a challenge to take up this chair, especially since Alan Holmes was one of my mentors at the New York Fed,” said Pardee. “I look forward to working with the students and extended family of Middlebury College.”

In the Alan R. Holmes Chair, Pardee will succeed G. Paul Wonnacott, a former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, who has held the position since 1993. The first holder of the Chair was J. Dewey Daane, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and currently professor emeritus of the Owens Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt University.

Pardee’s areas of expertise include management of global financial firms and international financial policy. From 1997-1999, he was the executive director of the Finance Research Center and senior lecturer at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management. Pardee has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and has taught at New York University, the American Institute of Banking, and Columbia Business School.

He has worked for several firms and corporations, including Yamaichi International (America), where he was chairman from 1989-1995, and American International Group, where he served as director from 1982-1986. At the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pardee was the senior vice president and manager for foreign operations of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) from 1962-1979.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a doctorate in economics from M.I.T. Pardee is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Alan R. Holmes Chair is designed for a policy-oriented economist who can integrate real-world monetary and financial issues with modern economic theory. The responsibilities are to teach undergraduate courses at the College, arrange for economic policymakers and financial leaders to present seminars, and to pursue an active research agenda. The chair was established by a gift from Robert A. Jones, a member of the Middlebury class of 1959 and a College trustee.

Alan R. Holmes was a senior official of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for more than 30 years, rising to executive vice president and manager of the open market account for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). He worked especially closely with Fed Chairmen Arthur Burns and Paul Volcker in the 1970s. According to Pardee, Holmes was well respected—recognized both in the Fed and in the market for his pragmatism and deep understanding of the financial markets.

Pardee worked under Holmes at the New York Fed, both in the Economic Research Department in the 1960s and in the Open Market Operations, covering the foreign exchange markets in the 1970s.