US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sitting in economy on a flight

Janet Louise Yellen is an economist and teacher from the United States. Yellen is the first woman to run both the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. She does this as a member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet. She is the only person in history to have been in charge of both the White House Council of Economic Advisors and both groups. Yellen also works at the Haas School of Business as the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor Emeritus of Business Administration. When he chose Yellen to lead the Fed, former President Barack Obama called her “one of the country’s best economists and policymakers” who is “known for her good judgments and ability to bring people together.”

Education and Growing Up

Janet Yellen was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 13, 1946, to a Jewish family from the middle class. Her father, Julius, was a doctor who saw patients in the family’s brownstone. Her mother, Anna Ruth, was a first-grade teacher. Janet Yellen was the top student in her class and became the editor of the Fort Hamilton High School newspaper after she graduated. After getting her B.A. in economics from Brown University in 1967, she got her Ph.D. in 1971 from Yale University. She later taught at Harvard, the London School of Economics, and the University of California, Berkeley, among other well-known schools. She worked as an economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1977 to 1978.

Important Accomplishments

Yellen was on many economic committees and councils, such as the American Economic Association, the Council of Economic Advisors of the United States, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She was a consultant for the United States’ Congressional Budget Office. She worked as a research associate at the National Institute of Economic Research and was on the board of directors for the Pacific Council on International Policy. She has also won fellowships from MIT, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Association of Business Economics.

As far as the Federal Reserve Board is concerned

In contrast to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Democrats chose Yellen for chair because of her “impeccable background, focus on unemployment, and good record as a bank regulator.” On October 9, 2013, Obama suggested that Yellen be the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve Board after Ben Bernanke. When Yellen became the 15th chair of the Fed in February 2014, her job was to help the economy slowly get better.

The Treasurer of the United States

Janet Yellen was chosen by President Joe Biden to be the 78th Secretary of the Treasury for the United States. On January 26, 2021, the Senate approved her nomination. Biden claims that, “She knows how important it is for people and communities to have good jobs that pay well. She has spent her whole career working on issues like unemployment and the right to work.” Yellen is the first woman to run both the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. She does this as a member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet.