Obama to tap Janet Yellen for Federal Reserve Chief

WASHINGTON–President Barack Obama will tap Janet Yellen on Wednesday to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve System, a White House official told the Chicago Sun-Times. Yellen will be the first female chief of the system. If confirmed, she will replace current Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Obama will announce Yellen nomination at 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday. At present, Yellen is the vice chair of the board. Her selection comes after a protracted internal White House battle, with advisors splitting into camps for Yellen and former Obama economic advisor Larry Summers. Summers pulled his name out of contention when it seemed likely he was not going to get the job.

Yellen bio from the White House….

Dr. Janet Yellen is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, a role to which she was appointed in October 2010. Prior to joining the Board, Dr. Yellen spent much of her career at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where she is Professor Emerita. She began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1980. Between then and 2010 she held a series of other positions, most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. She also previously served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors from 1997 to 1999 and as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board from 1994 to 1997. Prior to teaching at UC Berkeley, she was a Lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1978 to 1980, an economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1977 to 1978, and an assistant professor at Harvard from 1971 until 1976. Dr. Yellen earned a B.A. in economics from Brown University and a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.

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