Janet Yellen, Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, will be nominated by President Obama to be the first female chair of the Federal Reserve, according to news reports.
Yellen, 67, has been vice chair of the Fed since 2010. Before that, she was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Yellen joined Berkeley’s faculty in 1980. Yellen’s husband, George Akerlof, is the Koshland Professor of Economics at Berkeley and the 2001 Nobel prizewinner in economics.
Yellen’s nomination comes after the widely reported first choice of Obama, Larry Summers, withdrew his name from consideration on Sept. 15. Summers, a former adviser to the president and a Harvard professor, faced opposition from a number of Democratic senators.
Yellen’s nomination to the four-year term as Fed chair is subject to confirmation from the Senate. If confirmed, Yellen will succeed Princeton professor Ben Bernanke, whose second four-year term ends on Jan. 31.
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