Can you imagine being married to Alan Greenspan?
One University of Memphis geography professor comes about as close as you can get.
Susan Bies, who is married to U of M professor John Bies, officially took office as one of the seven positions that comprise the Federal Reserve System this past December.
So what is it like being married to someone on the Federal Reserve Board?
Bies said that for her, besides being apart from her husband of 31 years, it’s not that much different. Because all the minutes from the Reserve Board’s committee meetings are made available to the public, she really doesn’t have to keep secrets of national interest from her husband. Nonetheless, Mr. Bies jokes with her anyway.
“I tell her to pull on her left earlobe if she thinks the interest rates are gonna go up,” said Mr. Bies.
And surprisingly enough, it’s Mr. Bies that plays the stock market.
“She’s too conservative,” said Mr. Bies. “I let her read the financial statements. That’s what she’s good at.”
Although Mrs. Bies now resides in Washington D.C., the majority of her career was spent here in Memphis as she held various executive and advisory positions for the First Tennessee National Corporation from 1979 to 1995.
Her career also involved teaching positions at Wayne University in Detroit, Michigan and Rhodes College. Also, Mrs. Bies’ face isn’t unknown to The University of Memphis. She served on U of M’s School of Accounting board for five to six years. This board helped shape curriculum, did fundraising and offered career counseling for students. And, Mrs. Bies said she even popped in on classes to be professor for a day on many occasions.
One of her most prominent accomplishments while at First Tennessee was to become one of the first female chief financial officers of a major bank in the United States.
“One of the things I really credit her for is both promoting minorities and women by hiring and promotions and putting them in positions,” said Mr. Bies.
Mrs. Bies said that certainly in the beginning of her career she encountered her fair share of sexism.
“I used to have to announce Dr. Bies is coming, otherwise people thought I was a secretary,” said Mrs. Bies.
She said that though the job market is a friendlier place for women now then when she first began, women still need to be willing to hone in on their interpersonal relationship skills.
“Women will never be a part of that good ‘ole boy network, so they’ve got to find other ways to build rapport,” she said. “It’s helpful if you can find a mentor in your organization who can help hone those skills.”
Over the years, while Mrs. Bies was busy building her weighty professional portfolio, her husband was doing the same for his own career. Before being hired on at The U of M in 1997, he enjoyed a long career in industrial education. He’s published eight books on the subject. They both agreed that making their family of four — they have two sons — work under the duress of their demanding careers takes less finesse than one might imagine.
“It’s easy to do, you just have to be organized, mostly though, it takes patience and you have to roll with the punches,” said Mr. Bies.
He said the most important factor in keeping a two career household going is compromise.
“When we first got married we agreed that first three moves would be for me and the next three would be for her,” said Mr. Bies.
In that case, this will be the last move for the Bies family. Mr. Bies will leave the U of M to join his wife in Washington this summer. While he intends to do research while there, his wife will continue to work with Greenspan until her term ends in 2012. Which, she said, isn’t as bad as people might imagine.
“He has a great sense of humor, which I don’t think comes across to people,” Mrs. Bies said of Greenspan. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s not running around cracking jokes or anything, but he gets us laughing sometimes.”
