Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says she will step down once her successor is sworn into the office, resolving a key question as to whether she would stay on in a diminished role.

Yellen could technically stay on as a governor even after stepping down as the institution’s leader, because her term as governor does not end until January 31, 2024.

Her decision to leave will give Trump an additional spot to fill on the Fed’s seven-person Board of Governors in Washington, which already has three openings.

Yellen resignation letter - notably proclaiming everything is awesome...

Economy “is close to achieving the Federal Reserve’s statutory objectives of maximum employment and price stability,” Yellen says in letter. “I am gratified that the financial system is much stronger than a decade ago, better able to withstand future bouts of instability and continue supporting the economic aspirations of American families and business.” Yellen confident Fed Chair nominee Jerome Powell is “deeply committed to that mission and I will do my utmost to ensure a smooth transition.”

Official Federal Reserve Statement:

Janet L. Yellen submitted her resignation Monday as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, effective upon the swearing in of her successor as Chair.

Dr. Yellen, 71, was appointed to the Board by President Obama for an unexpired term ending January 31, 2024. Her term as Chair expires on February 3, 2018. She also serves as Chair of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body.

Prior to her appointment as Chair, Dr. Yellen served as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, from October 2010 to February 2014, and as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, from June 2004 to October 2010. She was initially appointed to the Board by President Clinton in August 1994 and served until February 1997, when she resigned to serve as Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, until August 1999.

Dr. Yellen is Professor Emerita at the University of California at Berkeley, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1980. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in August 1946 and received her undergraduate degree in economics from Brown University in 1967 and her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971. Dr. Yellen is married and has an adult son.