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Acting Governor Dr. Karnit Flug has decided to appoint Bank of Israel Research Department Director Prof. Nathan Sussman as a member of the Monetary Committee, to succeed Barry Topf who will resign from the Bank of Israel at the end of the month after 30 years of working at the Bank. The appointment will become effective on November 1, 2013. Prof. Sussman will continue to serve as Director of the Research Department.
According to the Bank of Israel Law, 5770–2010, the Monetary Committee consists of six members—the Governor (who serves as Chairperson of the Committee), the Deputy Governor, an additional Bank employee (currently Barry Topf, who will be stepping down) who is nominated by the Governor, and three members from among the public. Currently, the three external members are Prof. Reuben Gronau (whose term was recently extended by the Government for an additional 4 years), Prof. Rafi Melnick, and Prof. Alex Cukierman.
Prof. Sussman, 53, holds a BA and MA in Economics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a PhD in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. He has served as lecturer in the Hebrew University Department of Economics since 1993 and as Associate Professor since 2004, and was Chairman of the Department in 2000–03. He has also served over the years as Assistant Professor and as Professor at the University of Western Ontario. Sussman’s fields of expertise are monetary policy, capital markets, and macroeconomic history, and he has published many articles on those areas in international literature. In addition, Sussman served as chairperson of the Kahal Employees Supplementary Training Fund investment committee. In October 2011, Prof. Sussman was appointed as Director of the Bank’s Research Department. Since his appointment to that role, Prof. Sussman has led the Research Department’s preparations for arranging the inputs to the monetary discussions at the Bank in the Monetary Committee era. In addition to the day to day management of the Department, which includes helping the Governor fulfill the role of economic advisor to the government, Sussman is leading a reorganization in which a Financial Stability Division will be set up in the Department. He is also a member of the committee to examine debt restructuring proceedings, which was set up by the Minister of Finance and the previous Governor.
Acting Governor Dr. Karnit Flug noted that Prof. Sussman will bring with him a wealth of experience to the Monetary Committee in both economic research and policy formulation, which will be an important contribution to the Monetary Committee’s decision making process. Dr. Flug thanked Prof. Sussman for his willingness to take on this commitment, and wished him success in the role.
Dr. Flug thanked Barry Topf for his 30 years of work at the Bank of Israel, and his contribution to Israel’s economy during that time. She noted, “Barry played an important role in formulating the Bank of Israel’s monetary policy during the financial crisis which began in 2008, with an emphasis on the Bank’s foreign exchange policy during that challenging time. Likewise, Barry made a marked contribution to the work of the Bank of Israel’s Monetary Committee, of which he was a member since its establishment in 2011.”