Jim Cunha

EVP Federal Reseve of Boston

Jim Cunha is the Executive Vice President and Interim Chief Administrative (CAO) the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  His entire career has focused on the interrelationship of payments, security, technology and innovation.

In addition to Cunha’s interim CAO role, he is responsible for financial management activities across all Federal Reserve Banks.

Cunha is also spearheading the Boston Fed’s efforts to study distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, to determine potential benefits and risks in financial services for internal and external uses. He is also responsible for the Bank’s technology research related to central bank digital currencies (CBDC), including a joint research effort with MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative called Project Hamilton.

Cunha has worked at the Boston Fed since 1984. Prior to that, he worked at Fleet National Bank. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting and philosophy from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s in computer science from Rhode Island College.