Why is Herman Cain commonly referred to as a CEO of a pizza company, but almost never a chairman of the board of The Federal Reserve?

Everyone loves pizza, but nobody likes being locked in the Federal Reserve

Everyone can relate to food. He was head of 400 Burger Kings and CEO of Godfathers Pizza.
To my knowledge he was not Chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve System. He was chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for one year

In 1992, @blueiiznh. He was a class C director of the KC Federal Reserve Board.

“What did Herman Cain actually do at the Federal Reserve (KC)?”

Slate.com

”...Cain’s role was chiefly as a charismatic guy who ran meetings well and corralled good advice. He was not an economist. ..”

From the Fed, “Class C directors are appointed by the System’s Board of Governors (Board), also for terms of three years. When considering potential Class C directors, the Board has a preference for candidates who can be identified with an organization—business or nonprofit—or with an activity in an economic sector that will add depth to the composition of Reserve Bank boards.”

http://newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed10.html

@bkcunningham agreed.

OP, I think the spin may be because being a CEO restaurateur is a better PR sell than anyone who has been involved deeply in banking in the US.

If he identified chiefly as a Fed official, the Ron Paul and Tea Party enthusiasts would have crucified him months ago.

He wasn’t chair of “The Federal Reserve.” He was a chair of a municipal branch of the Fed.

Pretty big difference.

Also it’s not clear he really did much of anything in that role.

If a person is running for the republican ticket, it is good to be known as a businessman. The right seems to like that sort.

He wants to be seen as an anti-establishment and non-political person that worked himself up from the street.

Main street vs wall street. The Federal reserve doesn’t fit well with that spin.

@gailcalled I read your post and I read the Slate article. Sounds like Mr Cain did what he was supposed to do at his FR job. Few FR people are actually economists (Thank God).

Are you trying to suggest that Mr. Cain is not the person he represents himself to be?

@Qingu I don’t believe I have seen it claimed anywhere that Mr Cain was the Fed Reserve Chairman, or that he functioned anywhere other than in his role at the KC Fed Reserve.

But thank you for your “learned opinion” that he didnt do much of nothing.
Successful business people do creep you out, don’t they, regardless of race.

Perhaps better to be a left wing neighborhood organizer and graduate from Yale, except that no one there at the time he was there can remember him being there.

@plethora, the original question said he was chairman of “the Federal Reserve.” It didn’t say a local branch of the Fed.

If he was chairman of the (national) Fed, that would be a big deal. KC Fed? Not so much.

And yes, obviously I don’t like Cain because I’m jealous of his success as a businessman. It has nothing to do with the fact that his 9–9-9 is a tax hike for the bottom 85% of Americans and a huge tax cut for the richest, or the fact that he not only knows next to nothing about foreign policy but is somehow proud of his ignorance.

@plethora : I don’t know what Cain claimed or did not claim; I do know that there is a lot of confusion regarding his role at the KCFR. Where it came from or how the rumors started is anybody’s guess. (Not mine, however. I have to go get my hair cut.)

@plethora, you mentioned that nobody at Yale can remember Obama going there.

Maybe that’s because he didn’t go to Yale. He went to Columbia as an undergrad and Harvard for law school.

Not sure where that leaves your right wing conspiracy mongering.

@plethora As stated in many answers, there is question on how the OP stated his role in the FR. “Isnt the chairman of the board of The Federal Reserve just a bit more prestigious than running a pizza chain?” My god many, it“s as clear as the nose on my face that the OP statement needed to be clarified in order to give a proper answer.
So when it comes down to it, there is no conspiracy over race, wings, college, etc. Plain and simple is that he is known more for what he did as a CEO. No big whoop. No need to make something out of people trying to clarify. Sheez..