Dr. Janet L. Yellen, is an American economist and the first female chair of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (2014 – 2018). During her tenure, under both the Obama and Trump Administrations, Dr. Yellen helped sustain a period of economic prosperity in the U.S. – the third-longest economic expansion in the country’s history. Assuming her position during the recovery of the economy from the financial crisis, she oversaw a period of strong job growth and the start of monetary policy normalisation.
During her time as Chair the US stock market outperformed the rest of the world, inflation remained stable and the unemployment rate declined, which was of utmost importance under her leadership. Dedicated to reducing unemployment and helping average Americans prosper, she visited job-training centres to learn firsthand the challenges faced by the nation’s workforce and advocated for job-training centres so that American workers could attain the skills needed for in-demand jobs.
Throughout her distinguished career at the Federal Reserve, including serving as vice chair of the Board of Governors (2010–2014) and president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2004–2010), Dr. Yellen championed for cautious monetary policy and encouraged more transparency and communication in government. Previously, she was a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton and an economics professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is a professor emeritus.