“By the time she was 16, Mary C. Daly was a high school drop out in a small town outside St. Louis who believed her best option in life was to become a bus driver.
“I only knew what was right in front of me,” said Daly. “My aspiration was to get a full-time job.”
Today Daly, 56, is president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, making her one of the most powerful shapers of economic policy in the United States. In this position, which she started in October, Daly helps set interest rates.”