Bernanke, Ben Shalom (bernăngk'ē) [key], 1953–, U.S. economist and government official, b. Augusta, Ga.; grad. Harvard (B.A., 1975), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1979). He was a professor of economics at Stanford Univ. (1979–85) and Princeton (1985–2002) before serving (2003–5) as a member of the Federal Reserve's board of governors. An authority on monetary policy, he became (2005) chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. In 2006 Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
