The president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Monday the key members of his economic team, led by Janet Yellen as Secretary of the Treasury, becoming the first woman to hold this position.
She will be joined by Neera Tanden as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Wally Adeyemo as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Cecilia Rouse as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey as members of the Council of Economic Advisers.
“This is the team that will provide immediate economic aid to the American people during this economic crisis and will help us rebuild our economy better than ever,” said the US president-elect, who stressed that his team will be made up of “respected and proven public servants “who will help the communities most affected by Covid-19 and address structural inequalities in the economy.
“This team resembles the United States and brings seriousness of purpose, the highest degree of competence, and an unwavering belief in the promise of the United States,” he said.
In this way, Biden has confirmed the speculations that, since last week, pointed to Janet Yellen as head of the US Treasury. The former president of the US Federal Reserve will thus once again be a pioneer, if her nomination is confirmed, by becoming the first woman to hold this position in 231 years, which will once again make her the most powerful woman in the world economy.
Yellen, 74, held the presidency of the Fed between 2014 and 2018, a position for which she was nominated by Barack Obama after the departure of Ben Bernanke and from which she was in charge of completing the normalization of US monetary policy after the measures. extraordinary measures taken by his predecessor to deal with the global financial crisis, including five interest rate hikes.
Janet Yellen has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University and, in addition to her work as a central banker, has extensive academic experience at the University of California (Berkeley). She also chaired the Council of Economic Advisers of former US President Bill Clinton for two years.
In addition to Yellen, Joe Biden’s financial team will also feature Neera Tanden as the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). If confirmed, Tanden would be the first woman of color and the first South Asian-American person to lead the WBO.
On her side, the current president of the Obama Foundation, Wally Adeyemo, has been nominated as deputy secretary of the Treasury. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Adeyemo served as the President’s Senior International Economic Adviser and held a wide range of positions, including Deputy National Security Adviser, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, the First Chief of Staff of the Office of Financial Protection of the Consumer, and Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Treasury Department.
Cecilia Rouse, meanwhile, is the dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. If confirmed, she will become the first African American and only the fourth woman to lead the Council of Economic Advisers (CAE) in its 74 years of existence.
In addition, economists Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey will become members of the Council of Economic Advisers.
“President-elect Biden and I have said that our top priorities as we enter the White House are to control this virus and open our economy responsibly. The excellent economic team that President-elect Biden is assembling will help us deliver on our commitment.” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said.
