Martha Perine Beard is the regional executive of the Memphis Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which includes western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and eastern Arkansas. Branch activities include sponsoring and hosting community-development seminars, providing economic education, conducting regional economic research and gathering monetary-policy input from business leaders within the local community.

Mrs. Beard joined the Federal Reserve Bank as a management trainee and has served in a number of management and official positions during her Fed career. Mrs. Beard transferred to the Memphis Branch in 1997.

Mrs. Beard is active in Memphis business and civic organizations and currently serves on several boards in Memphis, including Memphis Tomorrow, Memphis Regional Chamber, United Way of the Mid South, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Baptist Health Care Corp. Mrs. Beard was a member of the 1998 class of Leadership Memphis.

Mrs. Beard has been profiled in the Commercial Appeal, Memphis Business Journal and Grace Magazine.

A native of Mobile, Ala., Mrs. Beard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta and a master's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis. Mrs. Beard is married and the mother of three children.