White House Assembles List of Potential Bernanke Successors at Fed
By PETER NICHOLAS And JON HILSENRATH
The Obama administration is assembling a shortlist of candidates for the Federal Reserve chairmanship, in the expectation that Ben Bernanke won't seek reappointment when his second term ends in January, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Janet Yellen, the Fed's vice chairwoman, is widely seen in financial markets as the leading contender for the job. Ms. Yellen is a Democrat who served as the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and has held a variety of posts at the Fed, including governor, San Francisco Fed president, and Mr. Bernanke's second-in-command since October 2010.
Ms. Yellen has been an outspoken advocate of the Fed's easy-money policies. Her involvement in formulating those complicated policies could give her an advantage in the eyes of the White House, since she would have insight into how they work and the challenges of changing them. But she also has drawbacks that could work against her—including a lack of market experience at a time when markets are on edge, in addition to having little exposure to top White House officials.
Lawrence Summers, the former head of Mr. Obama's National Economic Council, could be another top contender. Mr. Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under Mr. Clinton, is close to many of Mr. Obama's top economic advisers and is widely viewed in the administration as a top economist. But he faces obstacles, too, including questions about how well he would fit into the Fed's collegial and consensus-oriented culture: Mr. Summers has a reputation as a blunt-spoken and sometimes tempestuous leader.
Mr. Obama has a deep bench of other respected economists among Democrats to choose from, including two former Fed vice chairmen, Princeton University professor Alan Blinder and Roger Ferguson, who advised Mr. Obama's first campaign for president in 2008, and Christina Romer, the former head of Mr. Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. Timothy Geithner, Mr. Obama's former Treasury Secretary, is sometimes mentioned in markets as a potential successor to Mr. Bernanke, though Mr. Geithner has said he doesn't want the job.
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