Yellen, Janet L. (Janet Louise), 1946-

Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She is the first woman to hold either role. She is also a professor emerita at Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and formerly a distinguished fellow in residence at the Brookings Institution.

Yellen was a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2010 to 2018. She chaired the Council of Economic Advisers in the President Bill Clinton administration from 1997 to 1999 and was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. She served as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve from 2010 to 2014. Yellen was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Ben Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She served one term and was not re-appointed by President Donald Trump.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Yellen gradsuated from Fort Hamilton High School in 1962, serving as class valedictorian. She matriculated to Pembroke College in Brown University, graduating with as degree in economics in 1967. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971. After receiving her Ph.D, Yellen was appointed as an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, where she taught from 1971 to 1976. In 1977, she was recruited to become an economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. From 1978 to 1980, Yellen was employed as an economics lecturer at the London School of Economics.

In 1980, Yellen joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley to conduct macroeconomics research and teach MBA and undergraduate students. In August 1994, Yellen took leave from Berkeley for five years. President Bill Clinton appointed her as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. On February 17, 1997, Yellen left the Federal Reserve to become chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. In June 1999, Yellen announced that she was resigning from the CEA for personal reasons and would return to Berkeley.