Alfred L. Aiken was born on July 6, 1870, in Norwich, Connecticut.

He was the first leader at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and served as governor of the Bank from November 1914 to December 1917. Following his graduation from Yale University in 1891, he joined State Mutual Life Assurance Company as a clerk, leaving after two years to become assistant manager of the New England department of New York Life Insurance Company. In 1903, Aiken decided to pursue a career in banking, becoming an assistant cashier at State National Bank in Boston. Eleven years later, in 1914, his banking career reached a capstone with his election as President of the newly created Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. As the Bank’s first president, Aiken was closely involved with the initial establishment of the discount rate policy. Benjamin Strong, Governor of the New York Fed at the time of Aiken’s tenure, commended Aiken for his policy, which enveloped all the member banks of the Boston Fed in the same system, each bank paying at the same rate to borrow from the Fed. After three years of service, Aiken resigned from the Boston Fed to become President of National Shawmut Bank, Boston. In 1924, he returned to his first career interest, rejoining New York Life as a vice president, becoming a chairman by 1940.

In 1896, he married Elizabeth Peck Hopkins, and after her death, he remarried Anna Colvin Hopkins in 1942. He retired in 1942 and died on December 13, 1946, In New York City, New York.