How to Address the Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Chair (Name), Chairman (Name) and Chairwoman (Name) are typically used orally when it is useful to specify the person's role, such as in a meeting or in a Q&A session. In the media these forms are frequently used in the third person when it helpful in identifying the person's role in a news story. Formally in a salutation or conversation the person is addressed with the honorific to which he or she is entitled such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Dr.

Envelope, Official:
       The Honorable (Full Name)
              (Full Title)
                     (Address)
Salutation:
       Mr./Ms./Dr./etc. (Surname):

How to Address a Former Chairman?
      I am sending a written invitation to a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve to speak.
   I don't know exactly how to address him in writing on an invitation and on the envelope.
    Do I do something like the following for the envelope and the inside address:
        (Full Name)
        Former Chairman of ....
    (this seems like a lot to put on one line, but I'm not sure if I and how I should break it up.)
    and then in the salutation say:
        Dear Chairman (Surname):
           -- Nancy Pence, Princeton Junction

Dear Ms. Pence:
     As Chairman of the Federal Reserve is addressed as:
    The Honorable (Full Name)
     The rule is once an Honorable, always an Honorable. So while former chairmen are still The Honorable.
     Don't identify him on the envelope as a "Former."
     Write his current office, not as a former office holder. When he is completely retired and holds no office you will write his name and just the address.
    Invitations are considered social correspondence, and on social invitations the "office held" is not included in the address. The idea being you are not inviting the office .. but the person.
        The Honorable (Full Name)
            Address
    "Chairman (Surname)" and "Mr. Chairman" are used in meetings when the person is actually acting as the chair ... and you hear on TV newsreaders refer to chairmen as "Chairman (Name)." But Chairman isn't traditionally a formal honorific like Mr., Mrs., Dr., Senator, Mayor, etc. Consider any club of which you have been a member: you may have addressed the 'chairman' as such in a meeting ... but didn't use it all day every day.
    All these issues are covered in my book in the chapter on US Federal Officials.
         -- Robert Hickey

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For forms of address for invitations, place cards, name badges, introductions, conversation, and all other formal uses, see Honor & Respect: the Official Guide to Names, Titles, and Forms of Address.

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