Christina Romer

Council of Economic Advisers

Status: Named; no Senate confirmation needed

About Christina Romer

Ms. Romer is a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, where she has taught since 1988, following three years as an assistant professor at Princeton University. She is widely seen as one of the top economic historians in the world.

The Council of Economic Advisers, on its own, has little political power. Its influence in any administration depends on the persuasive powers and personality of its chair. The CEA typically has been led by academics with a prowess for economic theory, such as Martin Feldstein and Ben Bernanke. One Obama adviser said Ms. Romer wasn't known for being confrontational and might have a difficult time dealing with Larry Summers, who will be the president's top economic adviser. But a colleague of Ms. Romer's said she would hold her own.

"There will be a lot of loud voices in the room where the Obama economic policies are hammered out," Barry Eichengreen, a professor at Berkeley and a colleague of Ms. Romer's for almost 20 years, said. "Chris can hold up her end in that kind of situation."