Biden, the economic team also nominated its first female finance minister. - Janet Yellen

US President-elect Joe Biden has named ex-Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen as his nominee for treasury secretary.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman ever to hold the post.

She was among several women chosen for top economic positions. The Biden transition team said others were set to break racial barriers if confirmed.

Mr Biden has pledged to build a diverse administration. He earlier appointed an all-female senior press team.

His transition team said his picks for senior economic roles would help "lift America out of the current economic downturn and build back better".

Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist at the Brookings Institution and a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. She served as the Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, and as Vice Chair from 2010 to 2014. She was the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.

Yellen was a Federal Reserve Board Governor from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2010 to 2018. She served as the 18th Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1999. She was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010.

In 2014, Yellen was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Ben Bernanke as chair of the United States Federal Reserve. She served one four-year term as Federal Reserve Chair from 2014 to 2018 and was not reappointed by President Donald Trump.

In addition to her continued contributions to the field of economics, Yellen is also noted for breaking down many gender barriers as a woman in the field.[2] President-elect Joe Biden has announced he will nominate Yellen to serve in the Cabinet as the United States Secretary of the Treasury.

<source :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Yellen>