Janet Yellen Sworn in to #2 Federal Reserve Post

Janet Yellen, CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and professor emerita at the Haas School of Business, is the new vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Yellen was nominated for the post by President Barack Obama in April, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Sept. 29, and sworn in by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke today (Monday, Oct. 4). Yellen will hold a 14-year term as governor and a four-year term as vice chair.

In an April statement about Yellen and two fellow nominees for the Board of Governors, President Obama said, “The depth of experience these individuals bring in economic and monetary policy, financial regulation, and consumer protection will make them tremendous assets at the Fed. I am grateful they have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people.”

In a statement following her nomination, Yellen said, “I am strongly committed to pursuing the dual goals that Congress has assigned us: maximum employment and price stability.” Yellen said that she would work to ensure that policy promotes job creation and keeps inflation in check.

Yellen became CEO of the San Francisco Federal Reserve in 2004, serving as the head office for the Twelfth District covering nine western states, the largest district within the Federal Reserve System. Yellen came to the position with previous experience in the Fed, having sat on its Board of Governors in Washington, DC, from 1994 to 1997. She also served as chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors in Washington, DC, from 1997 to 1999.

For 26 years, from 1980 to 2006, Yellen taught macroeconomics at the Haas School and held a joint appointment with the Department of Economics. She was a member of the Haas Economic Analysis and Policy Group and was twice awarded the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, in 1985 and 1988.

Yellen is co-author, with Princeton professor Alan Blinder, of The Fabulous Decade: Macroeconomic Lessons From the 1990s, an insider’s view of the key economic policies that shaped that decade of unprecedented economic growth. She has collaborated professionally with her husband, UC Berkeley Nobel Prize winner George Akerlof, on subjects including the labor market, income and wages, employment, and varied socioeconomic issues.