Janet L. Norwood

Janet Lippe Norwood (December 11, 1923 – March 27, 2015) was an American statistician and the first female Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) when she was appointed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. She was reappointed twice by President Reagan. She left the Bureau in 1991 and joined the Urban Institute as a Senior Fellow, a position she held until 1999. She was also appointed as the Chair of the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, first by President George H. W. Bush in 1993 and then re-elected by President Bill Clinton. She stepped down from that position in 1996. She received numerous awards including several honorary doctorate degrees from academic institutions, including Harvard University.