Alan Greenspan has been charirman of the Federal Reserve, and one of the most powerful financial men in America, since 1988. Greenspan had a brief career as a professional jazz saxophonist before joining an economics consulting firm in New York City in 1954. He advised Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and was named Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System in 1987, a post he held under presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush the elder, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. As Chairman, Greenspan has been largely responsible for directing U.S. national monetary policy; he is often credited with keeping inflation at historically low levels, and sometimes criticized for the boom-and-bust nature of the economy in dot-com era. Greenspan stepped down from the post in January of 2006; President George W. Bush has nominated former Princeton economics department chair Ben Bernanke to replace him.