Lemieux, Cathy

Growing up as the daughter of a small town banker in rural Delaware, Dr. Catharine Lemieux developed interests in both banking and assisting small agricultural producers in her community. This was particularly evident when she took on the role of a lender after graduating from the University of Delaware in 1974. It was during her time as a lender for the USDA’s Farmers Home Administration that Cathy’s interest in how the market affected farmers was piqued, which prompted her to apply to the Agricultural Economics Ph.D. program at Texas A&M University.

After graduating from Texas A&M with a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 1985, Dr. Lemieux spent four years as the Associate Dean of Research and Associate Professor of Economics at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. In 1990, Cathy began her distinguished career in bank management as an Economist and Bank Examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. While there, she applied the lessons learned at A&M to successfully examine banking practices and their accordance with the FDICIA. Between 1993 and 1997, Dr. Lemieux worked as a consultant and bank examiner, gaining the experience needed before her next promotion. Dr. Lemieux has ascended in leadership at the Chicago Federal Reserve, where she has held several vice president positions.

Starting her career as an entry-level lender, Dr. Lemieux has earned one of the most premiere bank regulation jobs in the United States. She is the first woman to become the head of the Bank Supervision and Regulation Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and has been lauded as a key contributor to the bank’s post 2008 crisis success. Since 2004, Cathy has fulfilled her role as Executive Vice President of Supervision and Regulation by supervising over 800 banking institutions with the help of over 520 staff members. They are dedicated to ensuring quality, sound practices, and protecting interests. Responsibilities include evaluating loans, training risk management specialists, and developing a consistent process for handling supervisory documents throughout the Federal Reserve System. In the aftermath of the 2008 Financial Crisis, Dr. Lemieux founded the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee of the Federal Reserve System, and co-chaired the Large Banking Organizations Management Committee.

In addition to her service with the Chicago Fed, Cathy has dedicated efforts to numerous service projects both globally and locally. Globally, she has worked on the building and sustaining of schools and orphanages in Uganda, which focus on providing sufficient nutrition and a positive learning environment for over 1,200 children. Her favorite project involved providing these children with the means necessary to run a poultry production process, which helped to enrich their diet while educating them on the values of agriculture. At the local level, she has volunteered her time on the Village of Lake Bluff Police Pension Board for over ten years.  She is also involved with her 1980s doctoral program peers in the Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Economics, mentoring graduating students and advising them on their career paths.

Dr. Lemieux is retired from the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, and lives in Lake Bluff, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago.  Her husband, Paul Lemieux, is a member of the fighting Texas Aggie class of 1986. They have two children, Adam and Sarah.