Maya MacGuineas is the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on fiscal issues.

As a leading budget expert and a political independent, she’s a trusted resource in the media and on Capitol Hill. MacGuineas testifies regularly before Congress and has been published broadly. She is a frequent commentator on the federal budget, national debt, taxes, the economy, retirement policy, government reform and health care.

Esther L. George served as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 2011 to January 2023, when she faced mandatory retirement from the Federal Reserve. As president, George led a workforce of more than 2,000 employees located at the Bank’s Kansas City office and Branch offices in Denver, Oklahoma City, and Omaha who supported the Kansas City Fed’s role in national monetary policy, financial institution supervision, and the provision of payment and financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. Treasury.

As president of the Kansas City Fed, she served on the Federal Open Market Committee, which is responsible for setting monetary policy for the United States. She also hosted the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, an annual gathering of global central bankers, academics, and policymakers held in the Tenth District state of Wyoming.

George is a native of Missouri.