Carolyn Wilkins will become Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada May 2.
The Bank of Canada has chosen a relative unknown insider to replace Tiff Macklem as governor Stephen Poloz's No. 2.
Carolyn Wilkins, 50, an economist who joined the bank in 2001, will become senior deputy governor – the bank's highest-ranking woman ever.
She replaces Mr. Macklem, who is leaving the bank May 1 to become dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Mr. Macklem, once considered a front-runner to succeed Mark Carney as head of the bank, lost out last year to Mr. Poloz, the former chief executive of Export Development Canada.
Ms. Wilkins begins her seven-year term May 2.
Like Mr. Poloz, Ms. Wilkins has an MA in economics from the University of Western Ontario. She has been a special adviser to Mr. Poloz since last year with responsibilities for research on the Canadian economy, interactions with the financial system and monetary policy The central bank said Ms. Wilkins was selected by independent members of the board of directors and approved by the Harper government. She will sit on the six-member governing council, which sets interest rates.
Mr. Macklem and previous senior deputies also had responsibility of running the bank's day-to-day operations.
But the bank recently created a new post of chief operating officer and last week named accountant and long-time federal bureaucrat Filipe Dinis to the post.
That frees up Ms. Wilkins to focus on monetary policy and the economy.