The U.K. government has appointed Alan Taylor to succeed Jonathan Haskel as an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

Wakefield-born Taylor is currently Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York, but has had stints in the private sector with investment bank Morgan Stanley and asset management giant PIMCO. He also boasts a PhD from Harvard and has published extensively on macroeconomics, international economics, finance and economic history.

In a statement, the Treasury said Taylor has been appointed for a three-year term, as is usual.

Taylor’s appointment has the potential to shift the balance of the MPC, which is currently more delicate than usual. At its last meeting earlier this month, the Committee was split 5-4 in favor of cutting the Bank Rate for the first time in the current cycle, with Haskel being one of the dissenting members who voted to keep it unchanged.

The process to appoint a new member had been interrupted somewhat by the change of government in the U.K., with the new Labour government responsible for the final decision. As such it’s the first such appointment by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.