Former Goldman exec Kaplan to take the helm at Dallas Fed

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas named Robert Steven Kaplan, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive who left to teach at Harvard in 2006, as its new president.

Kaplan, 58, will take his post Sept 8, the Dallas Fed said in a press release. He will succeed Richard Fisher, who was president from April 2005 to March 2015. Helen Holcomb, the Dallas Fed's first vice-president, has served as interim head since Fisher retired.

The new president, who won't vote on policy until 2017, will join the Fed at a pivotal time, just eight days before the meeting at which most economists expect the central bank to begin raising interest rates. Officials are weighing when and how quickly to tighten policy after leaving rates near zero since 2008.