ST. LOUIS FEDERAL BANK PRESIDENT WILL KEYNOTE COPPER DOME DINNER

Thomas C. Melzer, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will present the address at the annual Copper Dome Dinner June 17 in the Show Me Center.

The event, which recognizes donors to the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, will begin with a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by a dinner at 7 p.m.

The title of Melzer's presentation is "Why Have Long-term Interest Rates Risen?"

"We are very pleased that Thomas Melzer, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will be our keynote speaker for 1994," said Robert Foster, executive director of the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

Don Ford, director of University Development, added, "Because of the interest rate scenario changing in recent weeks, we believe Mr. Melzer's appearance as keynote speaker at our Copper Dome dinner will be particularly timely. His comments concerning the role of the Federal Reserve in shaping economic policy should prove most interesting."

Melzer took office as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in June 1985. He directs the activities of the bank's head office in St. Louis, as well as its three branches in Little Rock, Ark.; Louisville, Ky.; and Memphis, Tenn.

In addition, he represents the bank on the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's chief monetary policy-making body.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks, serves the Eighth Federal Reserve District. The regional Reserve Banks, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., constitute the Federal Reserve System. As the nation's central bank, the Fed is responsible for supervising banks, operating the nation's payments mechanism and formulating monetary policy.

Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Melzer was employed by Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. of New York. During his career with the firm, which began in 1968, he was involved in a variety of management activities, including corporate finance, real estate finance and investment, and securities sales and trading. He was named a managing director in 1977, at which time he was head of administration for the firm's securities sales and trading activities.

Three years later, in 1980, he was made head of the U.S. Government Securities Department.

Born in Philadelphia, Melzer spent his formative years in Chicago and Pasadena, Calif. He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., where he received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1966 and a master of business administration degree in 1968.

He is a member of the President's Council of St. Louis University, vice president and secretary of the Chancellor's Council of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, a director of Junior Achievement of Mississippi Valley Inc., and a member of the senior advisory board of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Banking. He has served as a member of the Advisory Council of Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and has been active in the United Way of Greater St. Louis, chairing its Loaned Executive Recruitment Committee.