Janet Yellen

Janet L. Yellen served as Secretary of the Treasury from 2021-2025. As the first woman to hold this position, she helped to craft the Biden Administration’s pandemic economic recovery program and promoted a strategy known as “modern supply-side economics” to boost medium-term growth and productivity in an inclusive and sustainable way. Dr. Yellen helped to stabilize U.S. economic relations with China and to craft the sanctions imposed on Russia following its brutal invasion of Ukraine. She also oversaw the preparation of the clean energy tax rules implementing the Inflation Reduction Act.  

During her tenure as Treasury Secretary, America achieved a “soft landing” following the 2022-2023 inflationary surge. Unemployment declined to historically low levels, inflation subsided, and economic growth surpassed that of other advanced nations, with the Economist declaring the U.S. recovery the “envy of the world.”  

In her earlier position as chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Dr. Yellen promoted recovery of the economy from the global financial crisis and oversaw a period of strong job growth and the start of monetary policy normalization. Under both the Obama and Trump Administrations, Dr. Yellen’s leadership as Fed Chair helped sustain a period of economic prosperity in the U.S.—the stock markets outperformed the rest of the world, inflation remained low and stable, and the unemployment rate declined. Under her watch, the U.S. experienced the third-longest economic expansion in history.

Dedicated to reducing unemployment and helping average Americans prosper, Dr. Yellen has visited factories and job-training centers around the country to learn firsthand the challenges faced by the nation’s workforce. She advocates for job-creating investments in infrastructure, semiconductors and clean energy, and job-training programs to enable American workers to attain the skills needed for in-demand jobs. 

Throughout her distinguished career at the Treasury and 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 responsible fiscal and 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.

Dr. Yellen is distinctively positioned to provide audiences a unique and seasoned perspective on global and domestic financial markets and the current economic landscape. She is currently a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at the Brookings Institution think tank.

Featured Videos

Janet Yellen

Dr. Janet Yellen on the Consequences of the U.S.’s Tariff Policies

Janet Yellen

Dr. Janet Yellen on What Rising U.S. Bond Yields Mean for the Global Economy

Janet Yellen

Dr. Janet Yellen on Why an Independent Fed is Key to Economic Growth

Janet Yellen

Protecting U.S. Domestic Production from China’s Trade Policies

Janet Yellen

Dr. Janet Yellen on The Effect of Tariffs on The Cost of Living

Janet Yellen

Setting Strong Boundaries for the U.S.’s Relationship with China

Janet Yellen

Setting Strong Boundaries for the U.S.’s Relationship with China

Dr. Janet Yellen on the Consequences of the U.S.’s Tariff Policies

Dr. Janet Yellen on What Rising U.S. Bond Yields Mean for the Global Economy

Dr. Janet Yellen on Why an Independent Fed is Key to Economic Growth

Protecting U.S. Domestic Production from China’s Trade Policies

Dr. Janet Yellen on The Effect of Tariffs on The Cost of Living

Setting Strong Boundaries for the U.S.’s Relationship with China