What do interest rates, shredded money, and AP Macroeconomics have in common? A recent visit from Scott Trilling P’26,’28, CFO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, brought these seemingly disparate elements together for MICDS students in Upper School History Teacher Zaven Nalbandian’s AP Macroeconomics class.
The Federal Reserve Bank (or Fed, as Trilling calls it) is the primary conductor of monetary policy in the U.S., promoting maximum employment and stable prices in the U.S. economy. Nalbandian underscored the importance of the visit, saying, «One of the reasons I invited Mr. Trilling is how much emphasis our current unit places on Monetary Policy and the work of the Federal Reserve in guiding the nation’s economy.»
Mr. Trilling, who is not an economist but a «finance guy,» shared, «The regional bank structure allows for different perspectives and economic experiences to be factored into the monetary policy decisions. Each Reserve Bank gathers data and other information about the businesses and the needs of local communities in its region.»
The Fed’s structure includes 12 Reserve Banks, each with a president who participates in the discussions of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC sets national monetary policy and consists of 12 voting members – the seven members of the Board of Governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four of the other Reserve Bank presidents who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis.
Students engaged Mr. Trilling with a wide range of questions, including:
How did you get into working at the Fed?
I attended WashU for business and studied finance, marketing, and international business. After graduation, I joined the St. Louis Fed and began my career with the Financial Management team. I held a variety of roles, eventually returning to the team I started with as the CFO.
What do you do as CFO?
I am responsible for financial accounting and financial planning activities. While the primary focus of my work is local, I also enjoy working with my colleagues across the Federal Reserve System.
What is your day-to-day like?
While a lot of the work I do happens on a regular cycle, it seems like no day is the same. As the CFO, I get to interact with and provide support to a variety of individuals across the St. Louis Fed. Some days are spent working on financial planning and strategy, some are spent reviewing financial statements, while others are filled with whatever comes my way that day.
Many locals may not realize that the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) website was created in St. Louis and serves as one of the most referenced economic data resources in the world. Trilling said, «FRED is an incredible resource developed and maintained by the research group in St. Louis. It’s used by academics, journalists and many others and contains 825,000 time series that relate to so many interesting topics.”
Fun fact: The Federal Reserve Banks offer services to help ensure that depository institutions have sufficient supplies of currency and coin to meet public demand. Currency is processed by the St. Louis Fed daily, and if any is determined to be unfit, it is taken out of circulation and shredded. Nalbandian then circulated a small bag of shredded money from the Fed and noted that decades ago, when most buildings didn’t have HVAC systems, the Fed burned the money to heat the building in winter, a starkly different method of managing currency than they use today.
Arjun Puri ’25 enjoyed learning how the Fed operates. «His role as a Chief Financial Officer wasn’t one that I knew existed at the St. Louis Fed. Mr. Trilling discussed in detail how the St. Louis Fed and other regional Fed banks operate in conjunction, and I was fascinated by how the Federal Open Market Commission (FOMC) is comprised of the leaders of several regional Feds, rotated in and out each year (currently, the head of the St. Louis Fed is on the FOMC). Entering AP Macro without much knowledge of potential economics-based careers (besides, of course, being an economist), Mr. Trilling’s visit opened my eyes to one career pathway that I didn’t know existed beforehand. In Macro, we’re currently studying monetary policy, which is the job of the Federal Reserve, and hearing from someone who is familiar with this work was a great experience,» he said.
«When Mr. Trilling visited my AP Macroeconomics class, I was elected to bring him to the classroom from the front office,» said Grant LaMartina ’25. «On our walk, we immediately started talking about his business career and the financial background he brought to the Federal Reserve. In class, many of us got involved and asked him questions about what he does in his position. Overall, his visit was perfectly timed with our class’s content and showed my friends and me just how connected what we are learning is to the real world.»
Sophia Huddleston ’25 was able to make a connection between the course material and his visit. «A big thing to note from Mr. Trilling’s visit was learning about St. Louis’s role in the Federal Reserve system,» she said. «It was interesting to hear the role that each Reserve Bank plays and how each contributes to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Hearing about the FOMC helped me make a personal connection to learning about the Limited Reserves system versus the Ample Reserves. Overall, it was really interesting hearing someone in our community talk about our subject in a real-world setting, and helped put macroeconomics and monetary policy into perspective.»
Nalbandian highlighted the value of the interaction with Mr. Trilling and added, «I love it when our students have the opportunity to speak with the people who actually work in the fields we study every day. These career paths link their dreams to a possible future reality, which is invaluable, and that is what makes MICDS such a special place.»