Accessibility links

Breaking News

Yellen Sworn In as New US Fed Chief


Janet Yellen is sworn in as Federal Reserve Board Chair, in Washington, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014. Yellen the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve in its 100-year history.
Janet Yellen is sworn in as Federal Reserve Board Chair, in Washington, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014. Yellen the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve in its 100-year history.
The new head of the U. S. Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, was sworn in Monday in Washington, D.C.

Yellen had been the Vice Chair of the Fed and is first woman to lead the central bank in its 100 year history.

The Fed is responsible for keeping prices stable and unemployment under control.

Janet Yellen


Who is Janet Yellen?
  • Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System since 2010

  • Served as President and CEO of the 12th District Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco

  • Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley

  • Member of Council on Foreign Relations and American Academy of Arts and Sciences

  • Received Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1971
Some economists say Yellen's approach is likely to be similar to that of former chairman Ben Bernanke, who pushed interest rates to historic lows as one part of the effort to pull the economy out of a slump.

Other experts say Yellen may put more emphasis on fighting unemployment.

Bernanke has joined the Brookings Institution, a group of scholars in Washington who study public economic, political, and strategic issues. Bernanke was a Princeton University economics professor before joining the Fed.
  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG