Secretary

Institutional context

The Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury and a senior member of the Cabinet. The office was created in 1789. From Alexander Hamilton through Steven Mnuchin (78 holders), every Treasury Secretary was male — a span of 232 years.

Career path

Yellen earned a PhD in economics from Yale in 1971 under James Tobin and Joseph Stiglitz, and held faculty positions at Harvard and the London School of Economics before settling at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business. She served on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (1994–1997), as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under Clinton (1997–1999), as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2004–2010), as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve (2010–2014), and as Chair of the Federal Reserve (2014–2018).

Appointment

President-elect Biden announced her nomination in late November 2020. The Senate confirmed her on 25 January 2021 by 84–15. She was sworn in 26 January 2021 as the 78th Secretary of the Treasury and served the entire Biden administration, departing on 20 January 2025.

Tenure

Four years. Tenure included the implementation of the American Rescue Plan, the negotiation of the OECD/G20 global minimum corporate tax framework, the response to inflation in 2021–2023, sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, and the 2023 banking-stress episodes including the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.

Cluster context

Yellen's 2021 appointment to Treasury is a principal cluster event. Coming three years after she left the Federal Reserve chairmanship, her two roles together represent a notable internal pattern: the same individual being the first woman to hold two of the most senior US economic-policy positions, separated by an intervening male tenure (Mnuchin) at the second institution.

Sources

• US Department of the Treasury — Former Secretaries
• Federal Reserve — Former Members of the Board of Governors