Politico | Joe Biden unveils diverse economic team as challenges grow
- The president-elect intends to name Cecilia Rouse, Neera Tanden and Wally Adeyemo to senior roles in administration
- Team will inherit a struggling US economy and one of the weakest labour markets in the country’s history
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Megan Cassella, Ben White and Tyler Pager on politico.com on November 29, 2020.
After facing criticism for the lack of diversity in his first round of hires, President-elect Joe Biden plans to announce three people of colour for leading positions on his economic team.
According to two people close to Biden’s presidential transition, he is expected to name Cecilia Rouse, an African American economist at Princeton University, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.
Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo, a Nigerian-born lawyer and former senior international economic adviser during the Obama administration, will serve as deputy Treasury secretary under former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, who Biden plans to appoint to lead the Treasury Department.
And as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Biden plans to nominate Neera Tanden, president of the liberal think tank Centre for American Progress, and a former senior policy adviser to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns. Tanden is Indian American.
Biden also plans to name long-time economic aides Heather Boushey and Jared Bernstein to serve on the CEA, according to people familiar with the plans. Both Boushey and Bernstein are white.
