NY labor union chief to chair New York Fed

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has named a top state labor union official its chairman, the bank announced Monday.

Denis M. Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, has been deputy chairman since January 2007. He became acting chairman in May after the surprise resignation of Stephen Friedman. News reports had raised questions about Friedman's ties to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Hughes, 59, has been a director of the New York Fed since January 2004. The Fed's Board of Governors appointed him chairman for the remainder of this year.

The board also designated Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, as vice chairman of the New York Fed for the remainder of 2009. Bollinger, 63, has been a director since January 2007, and was reappointed for a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2010.