The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco appointed John Williams president and chief executive officer Tuesday. Williams is filling the top spot left vacant by Janet Yellen, who resigned in October to serve as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C. “Once Janet resigned, we took time to consider a wide range of candidates. After careful consideration, we selected John as the next president of the San Francisco Fed,” said Douglas Shorenstein, chairman of the bank’s board of directors.  “He has distinguished himself as one of the most respected economists in the Federal Reserve System because of his extraordinary work in the field of monetary policy analysis. He has been a superb leader of our well-respected Economic Research group, and earlier gained valuable experience serving at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.” As the bank’s CEO, Williams also will serve on the Federal Open Market Committee, which dictates monetary policy by voting for or against rate changes and economic policy proposals. Prior to his new position, Williams — who becomes the 12th leader to guide the twelfth district bank — spent more than a year as executive vice president and director of research at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. A graduate of Stanford University, Williams has a Ph.D. in economics and a graduate degree in economics with distinction from the London School of Economics. He joined the Board of Governors in 1994 and served as a senior economist from 1998 to 2002. He also spent time as a research advisor and as the senior economist to the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Write to Kerri Panchuk.