Update: Obama Taps Goolsbee, Volcker To Lead New Economic Advisory Board

November 26, 2008 11:21 a.m. EST

Chicago, IL (AHN) - President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday named former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker head of a new advisory board responsible for giving nonpartisan recommendations to the new administration about how to fix the economy.

In a press conference in Chicago, the president-elect said his Economic Recovery Advisory Board will regularly brief him, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner, who will be he next Treasury secretary, and other members of the economic team. The board will initially serve for two years.

Volcker is already a member of Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board. He was widely reported as a contender for Treasury secretary.

"[He has] a deep understanding of financial markets, extensive experience managing economic crises... Paul has served under both Republicans and Democrats and is held in the highest esteem for his sound and independent judgment," Obama said.

Obama also announced the appointment of long-time adviser Austan Goolsbee as staff director and chief economist of the board. Goolsbee is "known for his path-breaking work on tax policy and industrial organization," the president-elect said. The 39-year old economist is a University of Chicago professor and one of "100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow" according to the World Economic Forum as well as one of six "Gurus of the Future" named by the Financial Times.

The president-elect said he would announce other members of the board, all of whom will be "distinguished individuals from diverse backgrounds outside of government." By coming from outside the government, these members "would be candid and unsparing in their assessment" of the economic programs of his administration.

Obama has so far held three press conferences in the last three days about his broad economic agenda and key appointments who will lead his economic recovery efforts. He had urged for an "aggressive" stimulus package on Monday. He is currently in talks with Democratic leaders about a second stimulus package that could reportedly cost as much as $700 billion financial bailout Congress pass in October.

On Tuesday, he bolstered his pledge to end wasteful spending with the appointment of Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orszag as head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Obama also named Rob Nabors, currently staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, as deputy director of the OMB.

Obama had also emphasized that the appointments to his economic team do not represent all of his administration's future efforts to fix the economy.

"These appointees will work with those I have yet to announce - including the secretaries of Energy and Labor, Commerce and Health and Human Services and others in my administration - to design a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, and to put our economy on a path to long-term growth and prosperity," he said.