Timothy F. Geithner has been president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since November 2003, and played a leading role in trying to manage the financial crisis engulfing Wall Street in 2007-08. In March 2008, Mr. Geithner brokered the deal enabling JPMorgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns, with the crucial help of a $29bn loan from the Fed. At the time, critics said that the terms of the deal were too generous, and that Mr. Geithner, with no experience in the private banking or finance, had been too reliant on Wall Street leaders to show him the ropes. But his defenders said that without a bailout, the whole financial sector would be in jeopardy, and the overall economy would suffer too. In June, Mr. Geithner called for an overhaul in the regulation of the financial industry, declaring that the current system of supervision was "confusing" and generated "perverse" incentives for financial participants. In testimony before Congress a month later, he said more federal oversight was needed. Meanwhile, the confidence in the credit markets collapsed as investment banks announced huge quarterly write-down losses. On Sept. 12, as Lehman Brothers faced bankruptcy, Geithner summoned nig banks to an emergency meeting. He asked them to review their exposures to Lehman and work out contingency plans for the possibility that the government would need to orchestrate an orderly liquidation of the firm. He and other officials let it be known that there would be no government bailout -deemed later a major error. As credit markets froze, Geithner, with Ben Bernanke, Federal chairman, and other regulators, reversed course. After first refusing to help AIG, they made an $85bn bailout. Lehman Brothers was rebuffed when seeking to become a traditional bank in mid-June, but Geithner granted the same request to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley a week after Lehman's chapter 11. In late September, Geithner refereed the dispute between Citigroup and Wells Fargo over Wachovia, a contest Wells won. He was party to the November bailout of Citigroup. Geithner anticipated some of the problems. In 2006 and 2007, he asked Wall Street majors to gauge the impact on them if a large bank failed. He also warned that the complexity of credit derivatives increased the difficulty of gauging the vulnerability of banks, brokers and others.
Cassandra Q. Butts, who is being considered for a role in the White House counsel’s office or as a White House adviser, would bring almost two decades of experience in politics and policy. 17 years’ experience in politics and policy; expertise in civil rights issues, domestic policy, health care and education. A utility-infielder player with wide breadth in a number of areas. She is linked to Mr. Obama by: The financial aid line at Harvard Law School. Ms. Butts and Mr. Obama were both in line filling out financial aid forms, and the two bonded over that experience. Ms. Butts is frequently the one people consult when they want to know more about Mr. Obama’s thinking, particularly as a law student. During his time in the Senate, the two had dinners once a month. 
Ronald Klain will be chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., a role that Mr. Klain has past experience: he was Vice President Al Gore’s top aide for four years.Experience as a vice-presidential chief of staff, as well as working for Mr. Biden. Mr. Klain was Vice President Al Gore’s top aide for four years in the Clinton White House, and before that he was chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee when Mr. Biden was its chairman. “Ron Klain has been a trusted adviser of mine for over 20 years,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.Denis McDonough, who helped Barack Obama synthesize the contributions of some 300 foreign policy advisers during the presidential campaign, is being considered for a foreign policy position.
With background in foreign policy, a working knowledge of Capitol Hill and a deep familiarity with Mr. Obama and his foreign policy ideas, working with him during the presidential campaign. Mr. McDonough helped synthesize the contributions of 300 foreign policy advisers, divided into teams based on regions and issues, to assist Mr. Obama in formulating and articulating his foreign policy. Mr. McDonough was often dispatched to brief reporters about Mr. Obama’s positions. He is linked to Mr. Obama by Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader. Before serving on the Obama campaign as a senior foreign policy adviser, Mr. McDonough was the foreign policy adviser to Mr. Daschle.
A brainy retired four-star admiral whose jobs included commander of the United States Pacific Command, Dennis C. Blair is considered adept at running sprawling organizations. Intimate experience with intelligence during a 34-year Navy career. He is also an Asia expert who is considered adept at running sprawling organizations, seemingly a prerequisite for heading an office that is still grappling with the task of fusing 16 spy agencies. He is not linked to Mr. Obama pther than as an occasional adviser to him in the Senate; he has close ties to the Clinton family, and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford with Bill Clinton.
Stephanie Cutter, a longtime adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, is being considered for a senior White House communications position. She has an insider’s knowledge of the White House, Capitol Hill and Washington, and the ability to speak fluently about all three. A familiar face on television, she is also an organized and strategic planner who knows how to promote and advocate a political or policy position. Ms. Cutter has a long and favorable reputation with some of the most influential journalists and opinion makers in Washington. And she possesses a roadmap of things to do — and not to do — from her time in communications of the Clinton administration. She is linked to Mr. Obama by being chief of staff to Michelle Obama during the presidential race and a senior adviser to the campaign. 
Arne Duncan, who is being considered for secretary of education, has earned a solid reputation for confronting issues in public education as chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools. Seven years’ experience as chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest school district, where he has earned a solid reputation for confronting pressing issues in public education, like how to raise teacher quality, how to transform weak schools and when to shutter those that are irredeemably failing. He is linked to Mr. Obama by playing pickup basketball games together in Chicago since they met in the early '90s through Michelle Obama’s brother. Mr. Duncan was a co-captain of the basketball team at Harvard. His sports friendship with Mr. Obama evolved into a shared interest in the problems of urban education, and they have visited Chicago schools together to examine questions like how best to train teachers. Mr. Duncan helped shape Mr. Obama’s education program.
David E. Bonior, who served a decade as House Democratic whip, is being considered for labor secretary.A long-time heavyweight in Congress who has strong support from trade unions. Knows his way around Washington, having spent a decade as House Democratic whip, the second-ranking position in the House. Is known for his passion in fighting for unions and on income inequality issues. Serves as board chairman of American Rights at Work, a pro-trade union group. He is linked to Mr. Obama since attending a meeting of top economic advisers on Oct. 6; invited because he is close to the automotive industry and unions. 
Richard C. Holbrooke brings more than 45 years of foreign policy and diplomatic experience for a top foreign policy job, possibly national security adviser or deputy secretary of state. He brokered a peace agreement in Bosnia that led to the 1995 Dayton peace accords. He is linked to Mr. Obama by mutual friends. Holbrooke supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic primaries. He is good friends with two early Obama supporters, James Johnson, head of Mr. Obama’s vice-presidential search team, and Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-winning human rights expert. (Johnson and Power resigned after Johnson came under criticism for getting a mortgage on favorable terms and after Power called Mrs. Clinton a “monster.”) 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or another environmental and climate-change policy post. She has expertise in environmental issues, particularly air pollution, experience in carrying out policy and familiarity with both state-level initiatives and the inner workings of the E.P.A. As an assistant administrator for the agency during the Clinton administration, her efforts led to the first federal standard regulating potentially deadly fine-particle pollution. Most recently, as chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, she is leading the efforts to achieve the reduction in greenhouse gases mandated by the state’s far-reaching 2006 law, working with regulators, economists and interest groups to administer the state’s climate-change policies. She has years in the Clinton administration and ties to many of the people involved in the transition, including Carol Browner, the former head of the E.P.A. who has been advising the campaign on environmental issues. She is also close to Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, chairwoman of the Environment & Publics Work Committee. 
Director of Office of Management and Budget. He has intimate familiarity with the federal budget as director of the Congressional Budget Office since January 2007, and has focused particularly on health policy, since cost increases for Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. Such expertise could help Mr. Obama, who has promised to expand health-care insurance to more Americans while containing costs. He is linked to Mr. Obama only by occasional meetings on budget issues during Mr. Obama’s early Senate years. He worled as economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, and before that to Mr. Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. After leaving the White House, he formed an economic consulting company, then became a senior fellow for economic studies at the Brookings Institution. There, he directed the Hamilton Project, which enlists scholars to propose solutions for problems with big fiscal and societal costs, and the Retirement Security Project, which promotes public and private incentives to help improve retirees’ income prospects. Like other economists in the Obama administration yeam, Mr. Orszag is a protégé of Robert Rubin, former treasury secretary, now Ditrector of Citigroup.
Laura D’Andrea Tyson was in the Clinton administration, as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, first woman inthe post, and then director of the National Economic council, but this will go to Larry Summers. Her role is therefore unclear, possibly Trade. Before Washington in 1993, she was an academic expert in trade policy, international competitiveness and high technology. She is linked to Mr. Obama as a late covert having supported Hillary Clinton. Tyson quickly became a vigorous, vocal supporter of Obama in tv interviews and joining the team that advised him on economics, often via conference calls as he crisscrossed the country. Her view of economic expansion in the Bush years “has been marked by the fact that employment growth has been extremely weak... that this is the first economic expansion ... where incomes of working families declined in real terms.” She was professor of economics at the UC Berkeley, and Dir.research for the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy. She was dean of Berkeley’s Haas School of Business from 1998 to 2001, then 4 years as dean of the London Business School, and founded LB's Centre for Women in Business. 
Austan Goolsbee may join the NEC or the Council of Economic Advisers or another senior-level economics role. His expertise is long-run economics including tax policy (how rates influence behaviour), Internet, the new economy and investment in human capital. A rising-star at Univ. Chicago Graduate School of Business, Goolsbee is a free-trade conservative. He is linked to Obama since Obama's campaign for the US Senate in '04, through to his run for the White House. In the Senate race Obama’s opponent, Alan Keyes, advocated unorthodox tax policies including exempting descendants of slaves from taxes for two generations; Goolsbee was called in and advised arguments against such proposals. He then advised on other economic issues. His views are pedestrian and orthodox e.g. “Moral exhortation doesn’t change people’s behavior. Prices do.” and “Make no mistake: Deficits still matter. A balanced budget may be less central to economic growth today than in the 1990s. But deficit reduction now functions as a crucial insurance policy against global financial shocks and over-reliance on foreign lenders" which as stated is non-sensical, but good jorunalistically. He was an economics columnist for NY Times and Slate, an is a former tv host of “History’s Business” (History Channel). He is research assoc. National Bureau of Economic Research, research fellow American Bar Foundation, member of the Panel of Economic Advisers to CBO (Congressional Budget Office), served on US Census Advisory Committee, consultant Internet policy for the Dept. of Justice’s Antitrust Division, senior economist for Progressive Policy Institute and for the Democratic Leadership Council. He is usefully anti- 'supply-side' economics theory, and therefore somewhat more empirical than theoretical.
Tom Daschle, nominated as Secretary of health and human services, brings to the job a deep knowledge of Congress, mainly the Senate, where (elected at age 30) he served (Sen. S.Dakota) for 26 years, including 10 years as Democratic leader in the Senate boh when the Democrats were in minority and majority. He has a soft-spoken reassuring style. Daschle left the Senate after losing to John Thune in 2004, the year Obama was elected to the Senate. Daschle left office with a strong reputation as a scholar of Senate dynamics, and Obama eagerly welcomed his advice. Daschle was one of the first people outside of Obama’s personal circle in whom Obama confided about his tentative plans to run for the White House. Mr. Daschle urged him to be bold, telling Obama over a lunch, “Don’t always think you’ll have another shot. You never know what the future will hold.” Daschle worked closely with President Clinton, especially in the impeachment fight, and helped Hillary Clinton when she joined the Senate, nut was an early supporter of Obama, instrumental in lining up support for Mr. Obama among Democrats in the Senate, a role that damaged his relations with both Clintons.
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