SAN FRANCISCO – The United States’ Federal Reserve Bank announced on Friday the appointment of Mary Daly as the president of the San Francisco Fed, making her the first openly gay regional president of the 100-year-old institution.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, with jurisdiction over almost the entire western US, said in a statement that Daly was the “ideal choice” for the position and will begin her term on Oct. 1.

Daly’s appointment was proposed by eligible members of the Bank’s Board of Directors with the approval of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the US.

Daly, an economist specializing in labor market dynamics, began working for the San Francisco Fed in 1996 as a researcher and went on to become director of research.

Her latest studies focus on finding the causes of wage stagnation in the US despite low levels of unemployment.

The president’s post had been vacant since April, when John Williams stepped down to take over as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Federal Reserve is a decentralized system with 12 regional banks, whose mission is to implement monetary policy decisions taken by the Federal Open Market Committee.