Janet Yellen

Former Chairwoman, United States Federal Reserve, Brookings Institution

Janet L. Yellen is a Distinguished Fellow in Residence with the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, as well as an adviser to the Magellan Group. Dr. Yellen previously served as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board (2014-2018), as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board (2010-2014), as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2004-2010), and as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors (1997-1999).

Dr. Yellen graduated summa cum laude from Brown University with a degree in economics in 1967, and received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971. Yale awarded Yellen the Wilbur Cross Medal in 1997 for distinguished achievements in scholarship, teaching, academic administration, and public service and an Honorary Doctor of Social Science degree in 2015. In 1998, Brown awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and in 2000, Bard College awarded her a Doctor of Humane Letters. She has also received honorary degrees from NYU, the London School of Economics, the University of Baltimore, and the University of Warwick.

Her scholarship has covered a range of macroeconomic issues, with a special focus on the causes, mechanisms, and implications of unemployment. She has authored numerous articles, as well as The Fabulous Decade: Macroeconomic Lessons from the 1990s, with Alan Blinder (Century Foundation Press, 2001).

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