Laurel Graefe

Laurel Graefe, regional executive and senior officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will visit Sewanee to discuss future trends in the Southeastern economy and monetary policy in the modern era. Looking at the changes in workforce demographics and new worker preferences, she will show how the future of work in the Southeast has shifted and where it is going. 

While on campus, Graefe will give a campus lecture, "Economic and Business Insights from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta:  A Conversation with Laurel Graefe," at 4:30 p.m., Thurs., Feb. 22, in the Torian Room at duPont Library. All are welcome to attend our second Bryan Viewpoints Speaker Series for the 2024 Easter semester.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Atlanta Fed) is the sixth of twelve Federal Reserve Districts that includes Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Ms. Graefe leads the Nashville branch, traveling the region to listen and connect with business and community leaders, gather economic data, and publish applied research on the regional economy.

In college, she was interested in math and discovered data analysis, which she said was “a way to understand emotional and complex issues of the day and sort out how to approach the world.” She joined the Atlanta Fed in 2005 as an intern and has held several positions there, including as a director overseeing inflation and energy market analysis for the Research Department and, most recently, as a director of the Nashville Branch's Regional Economic Information Network.

Her economic research has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and MarketWatch, among others, and featured on NPR. She also co-authored The Handbook of Oil Politics in which she contributed an essay, “The Policy Implications of Peak Oil.”

Laurel received her B.A. in economics from Agnes Scott College and earned an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. She continued her education with executive and advanced certificates in leadership from Stanford University and Harvard business schools.

In Nashville, Laurel serves on several boards including Siskin Hospital, TennGreen Land Conservancy, the United Way of Greater Nashville, and the Economic and Finance Department at Tennessee State University. She was elected by Tennessee as a representative to the International Women’s Forum. Laurel enjoys rock climbing and exploring the Cumberland Plateau. 

This visit is cosponsored by the Department of Economics and the Department of Finance. The Bryan Viewpoints Speaker Series is made possible by a generous gift from Peggy and J.F. Bryan IV, C’65. For more information about the Babson Center for Global Commerce and our events, please visit: babsoncgc.sewanee.edu.