Raphael Bostic, a University of Southern California professor and former President Barack Obama housing administration official, has been named the next president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Bostic, 50, will be the fourth African-American to serve on the Federal Reserve’s seven member board, which helps set the nation’s monetary policy, such as raising or lowering interest rates. He will also be the first African-American to head one of the Federal Reserve Bank’s 12 regional banks.

At the Atlanta Federal Reserve, Bostic will succeed Dennis Lockhart who retired in February, when he assumes duty on June 5.

“In my role as president of the Atlanta Reserve Bank, I also look forward to confronting the challenges the Federal Reserve faces in today’s increasingly global and rapidly changing economy,” Bostic said in a statement.

He is currently the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC, a position he has held since 2012.

He landed at USC after serving as the assistant secretary for policy development and research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2012.

Bostic was initially employed at USC in 2001, as a professor in the school of public policy. His research included home ownership, housing finance, and neighborhood change. Bostic was the interim associate director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate from 2007 to 2009 and the interim director from 2015 to 2016.

Residential real estate reporter Helen Zhao can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @zhaomeow.