Janet Yellen was sworn in as Chair of the Federal Reserve, becoming the first woman to lead the U.S. central bank and any major central bank worldwide.
On February 3, 2014, Janet Yellen was sworn in as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, succeeding Ben Bernanke. This appointment made her the first woman in the 100-year history of the Federal Reserve to hold the position, and notably, the first woman to lead any major central bank in the world.
Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Yellen brought with her an unparalleled resume: prior service as Fed Vice Chair, President of the San Francisco Fed, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, and decades of academic research in labor economics. Her leadership during her four-year term (2014–2018) coincided with the Fed's careful navigation of the post-financial-crisis recovery, including the gradual normalization of interest rates and the unwinding of quantitative easing programs.
Yellen's appointment shattered a significant glass ceiling in economic policymaking, an area that had been almost exclusively male since the Fed's founding in 1913. Her tenure was widely praised for its steady, data-driven approach, and she became a role model for women pursuing careers in economics and finance. Her historic ascension was covered extensively by international media, including the BBC, as a landmark moment in the history of central banking and gender equality in leadership.
This achievement solidified her legacy as one of the most influential economists of her generation and set a precedent that continued to resonate when she was later confirmed as the first female U.S. Treasury Secretary.