Staff

Richard Walker
Vice President & Community Affairs Officer
617-973-3059

Richard Walker joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1994 and is currently the vice president and community affairs officer of the Public and Community Affairs Department. He has been actively involved in promoting fair and equal access to finance and credit through a variety of media. He has nearly three decades of experience in business and community development in Boston and has served in executive positions at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, the Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affairs at Tufts University, and the Greater Roxbury Development Corporation. In his free time, Richard is an avid fisherman, a gourmet cook, and a wine enthusiast.

Prabal Chakrabarti
Director of Community Affairs
617-973-3959

Prabal Chakrabarti is director of community affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where he co-authored “Venture Capital in Secondary Cities” and “Understanding Foreclosures in Massachusetts.” Previously, Prabal was deputy director of research at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, served in the U.S. Treasury under Clinton, and was a senior consultant at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. He attended the University of Illinois and holds graduate degrees from MIT and Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. Prabal is a member of the Inner City Economic Forum and serves on the board of the Asian Community Development Corporation in Boston.

Caroline Ellis
Editor, Communities & Banking
617-973-3187

Caroline Ellis is the editor of Communities & Banking magazine, which focuses on low- and moderate-Income issues in New England. She was previously a senior editor at MIT Sloan Management Review, the editor of Minnesota Physician, and a manuscript editor at Harvard Business Review. Her undergraduate degree is from Bryn Mawr College, and her master's is from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Her outside interests include theater and reading.

Ren Essene
Policy Analyst
617-973-3241

Ren Essene is a policy analyst focusing on economic security and the mortgage and credit markets. Previously, she was an analyst at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, where she wrote Understanding Mortgage Market Behavior: Creating Good Mortgage Options for All Americans. She also co-authored “Consumer and Mortgage Credit at the Crossroads” as a chapter in Borrowing To Live. She has presented her work widely, including as a panelist for the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors’ 2007 Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act hearing. Her 15 years in community development began in Missoula, Montana, where she founded homeWORD and was the founding board president of the Rural Collaborative. Ren attended the University of Illinois and earned her master’s of public administration at Harvard.

DeAnna Green
Senior Community Affairs Analyst
617-973-3820

DeAnna Green is a senior community affairs analyst. Her focus is on entrepreneurship in low- and moderate-income communities. She has written on this topic in several Fed publications. DeAnna has also served as the Boston Fed lead on a national research project focused on concentrated poverty in America. She has worked with community development organizations across New England to gather information on emerging trends and challenges. DeAnna received her master’s from the London School of Economics and Political Science and her B.A. from Syracuse University.

Kai-Yan Lee
Policy Analyst
617-973-3813

Kai-yan is a policy analyst with main research interests in urban and economic development, community revitalization, housing, and regional economics. Before joining Boston Fed, he worked as an intern analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, as a policy fellow at the Joint Economic Development and Emerging Technology Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature, and as an economic/demographic researcher in California’s Central Valley. He obtained his graduate degrees from Harvard and MIT and his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is active outdoors, in the kitchen, at museums, and at activities promoting social justice.

Melita Podesta
Changing Exhibits Project Manager
617-973-3197

Melita Podesta has the mostly fun job of dreaming up and curating the rotating exhibits that support the New England Economic Adventure. She has worked at the Boston Fed since 1999. Her newest responsibility is to work to expand the Economic Adventure's reach into the virtual world Second Life. Her undergraduate degree is from Wellesley College in East Asian Studies. For amusement she copies old master paintings and travels to places that require long train and bus rides.

Anna Afshar Steiger
Policy Analyst
617-973-3201

Anna Steiger is a policy analyst with a research focus on investment flows into low- and moderate-income and underserved areas. She is also editor of New England Community Developments, a publication that explores emerging issues in community development and consumer affairs. Previously she worked in international business and microfinance. She holds a master’s of public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. in economics from Barnard College. Her outside interests include running and conflict-resolution coaching.