With Barr's Vice Chair Exit, Fed's Bowman Thrust Into Spotlight

Also, new faces to lead House Financial Services panels; ex-Treasury aide Phillips hired at Freddie Mac; BlackRock asks FDIC for more time to forge a deal on bank stakes

Michelle Bowman had been serving as Kansas Banking Commissioner for a little under a year when she got a call from Washington about being nominated to the Federal Reserve Board. Her response, which she recounted recently: “You do know who you are talking to, right? Did you mean to call me?”

Now, six years after her 2018 confirmation, Bowman is seen as th…