Fed names Marc Andreessen, Doug McMillon and others to lead new task forces

The Federal Reserve has named outside leaders to five new task forces as Chair Kevin Warsh pushes a broader review of how the central bank operates and communicates.

The rosters include venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, economist Raj Chetty, former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, economist Raghuram Rajan, Greg Mankiw, Thomas Sargent, William White, Karen Dynan and Jeremy Stein.

The five panels will focus on productivity and jobs, communications, the Fed’s balance sheet, inflation and economic data. Each task force will have three co-leaders and will be supported by Fed staff.

Warsh said the U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation and that the Fed should examine whether its means, methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved.

How the task forces came together

Warsh first announced the task forces in June 2026. On July 9, the Fed released the names of the outside leaders who will help steer the five groups.

The new structure turns that earlier announcement into a more defined effort. The panels are advisory to the Fed, not separate decision-making bodies, but they are positioned to feed into internal debate about future changes.

AP reported that the task forces were unveiled after Warsh’s earlier call for a “regime change” at the Fed. The latest step gives that push a formal roster of economists, business executives and former policymakers.

The people and the panels

Andreessen is among the leaders of the productivity and jobs task force, underscoring Warsh’s decision to bring in technology and business figures as well as traditional monetary economists.

McMillon and Chetty are among the leaders of the data task force, which could examine how the Fed gathers and interprets information about the economy.

Mervyn King is among the leaders of the communications task force, a group likely to weigh how the Fed explains its thinking to markets and the public.

Rajan, Dynan and Stein are among the leaders of the balance-sheet task force, which could examine post-crisis practices that have become central to policy implementation.

Mankiw, Sargent and White are among the leaders of the inflation task force, which may shape how officials think about inflation frameworks and long-run policy settings.

Why it matters

The task forces go to the core of how the Fed forms and explains policy. Communications can shape market expectations. Data choices can influence how officials read the economy. Balance-sheet decisions affect monetary transmission and financial conditions.

Productivity and inflation work also matters because it can affect how policymakers judge growth, labor-market slack and the risks around price stability. If the groups produce recommendations that gain traction, they could affect interest-rate strategy and bond-market expectations.

Warsh’s approach suggests he is trying to build support for a broader internal overhaul while still keeping the effort anchored in recognizable names from economics, business and central banking.

The names also reflect a wider net than a purely academic exercise. The mix of executives, economists and former policymakers points to an effort to test whether the Fed’s operations can be modernized without abandoning its institutional role.

What comes next

The task forces are expected to produce recommendations later in 2026. The exact scope of those recommendations remains unclear.

It is also unclear how much backing Warsh has among other Fed governors and regional bank presidents for any eventual changes that emerge from the panels.

For now, the practical question is whether the task forces lead to incremental operational changes or become a stepping stone to a deeper reassessment of how the Fed defines its methods, tools and public messaging.

,