For immediate release: January 12, 2021
NEW ORLEANS—The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta announces the appointment of William G. Yates III to the New Orleans Branch board of directors. He was appointed by the Atlanta board of directors to a three-year term beginning January 1, 2021, and ending December 31, 2023.
Yates is president and CEO of W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Company and its parent company, the Yates Companies Inc., in Biloxi, Mississippi. The companies and their affiliates have more than 6,500 employees and revenues of more than $2 billion. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and Arizona State University.
The Bank also announces the reappointment of Michael E. Hicks Jr., president and CEO of Hixardt Technologies Inc. in Pensacola, Florida, by the Board of Governors to a three-year term beginning January 1, 2021, and ending December 31, 2023.
The remaining directors of the Atlanta Fed’s New Orleans Branch include:
- Toni D. Cooley, CEO of Systems Companies in Jackson, Mississippi (term expires December 31, 2022),
- Katherine A. Crosby, board chair of Fidelity Bank in New Orleans (term expires December 31, 2021),
- David T. Darragh, operating partner of LongVue Capital in Metairie, Louisiana (term expires December 31, 2021),
- Art E. Favre, president and CEO of Performance Contractors Inc. in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (term expires December 31, 2021), and
- G. Janelle Frost, president and CEO of Amerisafe Inc. in DeRidder, Louisiana (term expires December 31, 2022).
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta branch directors provide economic information from their industries and the branch territory to the district Bank's president and head office directors, who use the information in discussing monetary policy options and making discount rate recommendations. The Board of Governors appoints three of the New Orleans Branch directors, and the Atlanta head office directors appoint four.