William Dudley, the New York Federal Reserve’s chief trader, will succeed Timothy Geithner at the helm of the most important regional Fed bank, the New York Fed said Tuesday.

Dudley, 56, a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, has played a central role in the Fed’s response to the financial crisis, helping to design, develop and implement the U.S. central bank’s emergency lending programs.

He takes over the top job at the Fed’s eyes and ears on Wall Street at a time of great distress in the financial industry. A Fed spokeswoman said Dudley would participate and vote at the central bank’s two-day policy meeting that kicks off on Tuesday.

"The New York Fed, standing at the critical intersection of the financial markets and the banking system, has a leading role to play in assisting in the reform of the architecture of the U.S. and global financial system to ensure that what has transpired over the past year can never occur again," Dudley said in a statement.

The job opened up when Geithner was sworn in as U.S. Treasury secretary Monday evening.