Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Profiles Janet L. Yellen

Profiles · Officials · Treasury

Janet L. Yellen
Photo: U.S. government work, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

ProfilePerson

Janet L. Yellen

Official · Treasury

PPP · Other programs
Type
Person
Role
Official · Treasury
Programs
PPP, Other programs
Updated
  • Pandemic-program role: Treasury Secretary who took office after PPP/EIDL were running and led Treasury's implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA, March 2021): State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, the new Office of Recovery Programs, SSBCI, Emergency Rental Assistance, and the Capital Projects Fund. She presided over the PPP wind-down/forgiveness era.
  • Institution · office: Treasury · Office of the Secretary · Type: political(PAS)
  • Tenure (relief-relevant): Sworn in Jan 26, 2021 (Treasury release jy0002); served until January 2025 (Treasury biography), covering the ARPA rollout and the tail of the COVID relief programs.

The job (role mechanics)

  • Level / appointment: PAS, Senate-confirmed . Executive Schedule Level I (EX-I).
  • Reports to: The President (Joseph R. Biden).
  • Core responsibility: Head of the U.S. Department of the Treasury; principal economic adviser to the President; lead Treasury official for ARPA relief-program implementation and the remaining CARES-era programs' wind-down.
  • Pay: Executive Schedule Level I = $221,400 (2021), per the OPM 2021-EX table and 5 U.S.C. 5312.
  • Expectations / mandate: Stand up and administer ARPA's Treasury-run programs (State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, Emergency Rental Assistance, SSBCI, Capital Projects Fund) via the Office of Recovery Programs (created April 2021, chief Jacob Leibenluft); oversee Treasury's role in PPP forgiveness-era administration.
  • Tenure norm: Serves at the pleasure of the President (political appointee); her term ran the full length of the Biden administration, ending at the January 2025 transition.

Who they are

Janet Louise Yellen is an American economist who became the 78th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the first woman to hold the office (Treasury release jy0002). She previously chaired the Federal Reserve (2014–2018), chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisers (1997–1999) and was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Treasury biography). Dates below are from the Wikipedia entry and Federal Reserve History (secondary).

Education

  • B.A., Economics, Brown University, 1967.
  • Ph.D., Economics, Yale University, 1971.

Career before

  • Assistant professor of economics, Harvard University, 1971–1976.
  • Staff economist, Federal Reserve Board, 1977–1978; faculty, London School of Economics, 1978–1980.
  • Professor (later professor emerita), University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, from 1980.
  • Member/Chair, White House Council of Economic Advisers, 1997–1999 (Clinton).
  • President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, 2004–2010.
  • Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, 2010–2014; Chair of the Federal Reserve, 2014–2018.

Role in the pandemic relief programs

  • Her deputy, Adewale O. "Wally" Adeyemo, helped oversee ARPA implementation. The Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, J. Nellie Liang, headed the Domestic Finance office.
  • Oversaw Treasury's stand-up of the Office of Recovery Programs (April 2021) to administer the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, Emergency Rental Assistance, the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), and the Capital Projects Fund.
  • Presided over the PPP wind-down/forgiveness period and Treasury's continuing role alongside SBA in the program's aftermath.

Documents written or signed

  • Treasury announcements and program guidance launching ARPA's Treasury-run recovery programs in 2021 (e.g., the April 14, 2021 release on the American Rescue Plan / Office of Recovery Programs, press release jy0121).

Career after / where they are now

  • Returned to the Brookings Institution as Distinguished Fellow | Brookings Experts Events Research Pro (Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy), announced April 15, 2025, resuming a role she had held 2018–2021 (Brookings announcement).
  • The Wikipedia entry (secondary) reports that in 2025 she joined the board of advisors of Angeleno Group.

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources (first-party)

Back to top