Q&A with NY Fed's William C. Dudley

Few people wield the economic power and responsibility of William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

He is the No. 2 person, after Fed chief Ben Bernanke, on the Federal Open Market Committee, which meets eight times per year in Washington to set interest rates. The committee’s decisions affect the cost of everything from home mortgages and credit cards to earnings on savings accounts. Its goals: keep inflation low and create jobs.

He has spent much of his career as an economist, including 20 years at the investment bank Goldman, Sachs & Co. He joined the New York Fed in 2007, becoming president two years later when his predecessor Timothy F. Geithner was appointed U.S. Treasury secretary.