Yellen, departing Fed, to join Brookings Institution

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whose term expires Saturday, will join the Brookings Institution on Feb. 5, the Washington-based think tank said Friday.

“I’m delighted to be joining the Brookings Institution,” Yellen said in a statement released by Brookings. “I look forward to continuing to study the economy, especially issues related to the labor market, and contributing to public policy debates on a range of economic issues.”

At Brookings, Yellen will join her immediate predecessor, Ben Bernanke, and former Fed Vice Chair Don Kohn. Nellie Liang, a longtime official in the Fed’s Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research, also joined Brookings last year after retiring from the central bank.

Janet Yellen

Brookings President John Allen praised Yellen’s service and said he was proud to welcome her to the institution.

“Chair Yellen has performed a great service to her country — the economy and the American people were in good hands with her at the helm of our central bank,” Allen said. “Yellen will continue that service through her research and activities at Brookings.”

Yellen joined the Fed as a member of the Board of Governors in 1994, and served as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors from 1997-99. She was appointed as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in 2004, where she served until her appointment as vice chair of the Fed board in 2010. She was finally nominated as Fed chair in 2014.

Yellen’s quick move from the Fed to Brookings has some precedent. Bernanke, whose term ended on Jan. 31, 2014, joined Brookings the following Monday.

Read more:
Janet Yellen's legacy: Her impact on the Fed, banking and the economy

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Economy Janet Yellen Federal Reserve Women in Banking
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER