Former Bank of Israel chief Stanley Fischer has been sworn in as a member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, The Telegraph reports.

Fischer must still wait for Senate approval to become vice-chair, the position for which he was nominated by President Barack Obama.

If approved, Fischer will fill the seat that would be vacated by Fed vice-chair Janet Yellen, who succeeded Ben Bernanke as chair in early February.

Obama also nominated Fischer to serve as vice-chair of the board, a nomination which was confirmed on May 21.

Obama, in nominating Fischer, said he has “one of the world’s leading and most experienced economic policy minds.”

Fischer is considered one of the top economic minds of his generation, both for his academic work and for his policymaking. He was the number 2 at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian economic crisis in the 1990s and was governor of the Bank of Israel through the global financial crisis a decade later.

In 2011, Fischer attempted to run for the position of head of the International Monetary Fund, but he was disqualified due to the fact that his age at the time was two years beyond the ceiling set by the organization’s bylaws.

He stepped down as governor of the Bank of Israel last June, midway through his second five-year term, and was ultimately replaced by Dr. Karnit Flug, who had served as his deputy.