Jerome Hayden Powell (born February 4, 1953), also known as "Jay", is an American economic advisor, lawyer, and former investment banker serving as the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve. He was nominated to the Board of Governors in 2012 by President Barack Obama, and subsequently nominated as chair by President Donald Trump, confirmed in each case by the United States Senate.

Powell earned a degree in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979. He moved to investment banking in 1984, and worked for several financial institutions, including as a partner of The Carlyle Group. In 1992, Powell briefly served as under secretary of the Treasury for domestic finance under President George H. W. Bush. He was a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center from 2010 to 2012. Powell built his reputation in Washington during the Obama administration as a consensus-builder and problem-solver.

Powell received bipartisan praise for the actions taken by the Federal Reserve in early-2020 to combat the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Federal Reserve continued to apply high levels of monetary stimulus to further raise asset prices and support growth, some observers perceived a disconnect between asset prices and the economy. Powell has responded by arguing that supporting the Fed's dual mandate of stable prices and full employment outweighed concern over high asset prices and inequality. Powell's definition of "full employment" may mean a tighter labor market than his predecessors.Time said the scale and manner of Powell's actions had "changed the Fed forever" and shared concerns that he had conditioned Wall Street to unsustainable levels of monetary stimulus to artificially support high asset prices. Bloomberg News called Powell "Wall Street's Head of State", as a reflection of how dominant Powell's actions were on asset prices and how profitable his actions were for Wall Street.

During Powell's tenure, the M1 money supply rose by 462% in what will be remembered by history as one of the greatest money heist pulled by the corrupt financial system.