Janet Louise Yellen

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When President Clinton named Janet Louise Yellen as a Governor of the Federal Reserve System, America learned what we at Fort Hamilton High School already knew - Fort Hamilton High School's best is the nation's best. Janet Yellen was the 1963 Fort Hamilton High School Valedictorian. After high school, she attended Brown University, graduating in 1967 summa cum laude with highest honors in economics. Janet then attended Yale University where she received a Ph.D. in Economics in 1971.

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Janet Yellen used her outstanding education to offer service to government and academia. From 1971 to 1976 she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University. During this time, she also worked as a research fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a consultant to the Division of International Finance of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as a research assistant at Yale University and as a consultant to the Congressional Budget Office. She then served full time as an economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, which entailed working in the Division of International Finance, Trade and Financial Studies. Her impressive credentials in international finance led her to a position in the London School of Economics.

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In 1980 Janet Yellen came to the University of California at Berkeley where she served as an Assistant Professor and then an Associate Professor in the School of Business Administration. In 1985, Ms. Yellen became a Professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and in 1992, she became Bernard T. Rocca Jr. Professor of International Business and Trade. During these years, Ms. Yellen accumulated honors and awards too numerous to list. However, among these honors are membership in Phi Beta Kappa, a term on the Council of Foreign Relations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Senior Adviser to the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity and a Nominee, Alumni Fellow of Yale University.

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Dr. Yellen is married to George Akerlof with whom she has co-authored many scholarly publications. They have one child. It is no wonder, then, that President Clinton chose Janet Yellen for one of the most important positions in America - a Governor of the Federal Reserve System. As one of a handful of people who set monetary policy for the United States, Ms. Yellen will share responsibility for the economic health of America and hence the world. We are proud that her success story began at Fort Hamilton High School.