For immediate release

Dr. Janet L. Yellen has been appointed President & Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, according to an announcement by George M. Scalise, Chairman of the San Francisco Fed's Board of Directors. Dr. Yellen is the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business at the Haas School of Business and Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley.

She will assume her new position on June 14, succeeding current President & CEO Robert T. Parry, who last September announced his intention to retire at mid-year after serving 18 years. Scalise said the appointment was made by the directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.

"We conducted a nationwide search," Scalise said, "and identified a slate of highly-qualified candidates. Dr. Yellen rose to the top as our pick, because of her extraordinary combination of monetary policy expertise, experience as a Federal Reserve Board Governor in Washington, fiscal policy experience at the White House, and her extensive academic, international trade, finance, and economic experience and research background."

"I'm honored to have been chosen for this key position, and I look forward to meeting employees and community leaders throughout the highly diverse states that comprise the largest district in the Federal Reserve System," Yellen said. "It will be a pleasure to return to Washington for monetary policy meetings representing the critical economic forces embodied in the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Twelfth District."

Outgoing President & CEO Robert T. Parry said, "I've known and worked with Janet for a number of years. She is an outstanding economist, and she made very significant contributions to the monetary policy process during her tenure as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board. I know that Janet will be a superb President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco."

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said, "I am pleased to welcome Dr. Yellen back to the Federal Reserve System. She has distinguished herself through consistently incisive analysis, impressive skill and unwavering integrity. We benefited greatly from her exceptional service as a Federal Reserve Board Governor and I look forward to the many contributions she will bring in her new role, to both the San Francisco Bank and the Federal Open Market Committee."

Dr. Yellen, 57, holds a BA in economics from Brown University, and a PhD in economics from Yale University. She was awarded honorary doctorates in humane letters, and laws, by Bard College and Brown University, respectively. She has been affiliated with the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley since 1980. In addition, she served as Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1997 to 1999, and was a member of the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors from 1994 to 1997. She has taught at Harvard and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr. Yellen serves as President of the Western Economics Association and Vice President of the American Economic Association. She is a Fellow of the Yale Corporation. She is also the recipient of numerous honors and awards, and her research has been widely published. She has collaborated professionally with her husband, George Akerlof, a UC Berkeley Nobel prize-winning economist, on topics ranging from labor market, income, wage and employment issues to variety of socio-economic issues.

BIOGRAPHY

JANET L. YELLEN

Janet L. Yellen is the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business and Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, where she has been a faculty member since 1980. Between August 1994 and August 1999, Professor Yellen was on leave in Washington, D.C. where she served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers from February 1997 through August 1999 and as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from August 1994 through February 1997. Dr. Yellen also chaired the Economic Policy Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from 1997 to 1999.

Dr. Yellen is President of the Western Economics Association, Vice President of the American Economics Association, and Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for International Political Economy, the Levy Institute, and is a Fellow of the Yale Corporation. Dr. Yellen serves as Senior Adviser to Macroeconomic Advisers, a St. Louis based firm specializing in macroeconomic forecasting and analysis. Dr. Yellen has also served on the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Yellen was Assistant Professor at Harvard University from 1971 to1976 and was on the faculty of the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1978 to 1980. She also served as an economist with the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors from 1977 to1978. Dr. Yellen has written on a wide variety of macroeconomic issues, while specializing in the causes, mechanisms and implications of unemployment.

Dr. Yellen graduated summa cum laude from Brown University with a degree in economics in 1967, and received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971. She received the Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale University in 1997, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brown University in 1998, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Bard College in 2000.

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