Exhibition Visionary Female Researchers: Janet Yellen

Janet Yellen is an American economist and former chair of the US Federal Reserve Board (FED).

Janet Yellen is born on 13 August 1946 in New York. After graduating from high school, she studies economics at Brown University and graduates summa cum laude in 1967. In 1971, she becomes the only woman in the economics department at Yale University to earn a doctorate under the supervision of Nobel Prize winners James Tobin and Joseph Stiglitz, and in the same year she becomes a lecturer at Harvard University.

In 1974, Janet Yellen becomes a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and, in the same year, joins the International Finance Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. From 1975 to 1976, she works at the Congressional Budget Office. From 1977 to 1978, Yellen returns to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, working in international finance, trade and financial studies. From 1978 to 1980, she also takes up a lectureship at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 1980, she joins the School of Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley as a lecturer. There, she is appointed associate professor in 1982 and becomes a full professor at the Haas School of Business in 1985.

In 1994, Yellen leaves Berkeley and becomes a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In 1997, she is appointed chair of the Council of Economic Advisers to US President Bill Clinton, a position she holds until 1999. From 2004 to 2010, she is president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In 2009, Janet Yellen also becomes a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the body that determines US monetary policy. In October 2010, Yellen is appointed Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board (FED).

On 1 February 2014, Janet Yellen becomes the first woman to hold this office, succeeding Ben Bernanke as Chair of the US Federal Reserve, a position she holds until 2018.

After her term as Fed chair ends, Yellen Becomes a distinguished fellow in residence at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

In November 2020, then-US President Joe Biden nominates her to be the United States Secretary of the Treasury. She is confirmed by the Senate in January 2021, becoming the first woman to hold this office. During her tenure, Yellen leads the U.S. fiscal policy through a period of significant economic challenges, including pandemic recovery, inflation control, and negotiations on the U.S. debt ceiling.

In addition to her government positions, Yellen is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. She receives numerous awards for her contributions to macroeconomic policy and the promotion of gender equality in economics, most recently the 2023 Paul A. Volcker Lifetime Achievement Award for Economic Policy.