As president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Sandra Pianalto shouldered national and local leadership responsibilities. She participated in the formulation of U.S. monetary policy and oversaw 950 employees in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh who conduct economic research, supervise financial institutions and provide payment services to commercial banks and the U.S. government. Pianalto joined the bank in 1983 as an economist in the research department and the following year was appointed assistant vice president of public affairs; several years later she became vice president and secretary to the board of directors, the first vice president and chief operating officer. She took on the position of president in 2003, retiring in early 2014. Before joining the bank, she was an economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and served on the staff of the budget committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Pianalto is vice chair of the board of University Hospitals and serves as a past chair and life director of the board of United Way of Greater Cleveland. She is an advisory trustee for the University of Akron (where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics) and serves on the boards of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Team Northeast Ohio, College Now Greater Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. She earned a master’s degree in economics from George Washington University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.