Director of National Economic Council: Lawrence Summers

A former Harvard University president, ex-chief economist of the World Bank, a Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton and Financial Times columnist, Summers should have the pedigree to help Obama's economics team begin to solve the country's (and the world's) dire financial problems. The incoming president is merely the latest to commend the 54-year-old's tremendous intellect. But "one can be brilliant and still make bad forecasts and huge mistakes in judgment," says David Henderson in Forbes magazine. Henderson, a former colleague, questions whether Summers is capable of making consistent and accurate economic forecasts.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 6, 2009