Powell, undersecretary of the Treasury for President George H.W. Bush, is under consideration, the person said on condition of anonymity. Another potential nominee with Republican ties, Richard Clarida, withdrew from consideration in August.

Powell didn’t immediately respond to a message left on his mobile phone. The Wall Street Journal previously reported the consideration of Powell.

President Barack Obama is still also considering Jeremy Stein, a Harvard University economist who specializes in banking and finance, for an appointment to the Fed board, the person familiar said today.

Stein served in the Obama administration from February to July of 2009 as a senior adviser to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and as a staff economist on the White House’s National Economic Council.

“The president has made no final decisions on who he will name to the two vacant seats on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” Amy Brundage, a White House spokeswoman, said.