Biden looks to fill out economic team with diverse picks

President-elect Joe Biden is expected in the coming days to name several of his most senior economic advisers, a group that includes several liberal economists and policy specialists who established their credentials during the previous two Democratic administrations.

Biden, who has placed a premium on diversity in his selection of Cabinet nominees and key advisers, is looking to notch at least a few firsts with his economic team selections.

The Biden campaign has not yet announced the picks, but these are some of the individuals he's expected to select to high-profile positions on his economic team, according to people familiar with the transition process who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the president-elect’s deliberations:

JANET YELLEN, Treasury secretary

Yellen became Federal Reserve chair in 2014 when the economy was still recovering from the devastating Great Recession. In the late 1990s, she was President Bill Clinton’s top economic adviser during the Asian financial crisis. Under Biden she would lead the Treasury Department with the economy in the grip of a surging pandemic.

If confirmed, Yellen would become the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its nearly 232-year history. She would inherit an economy with still-high unemployment, escalating threats to small businesses and signs that consumers are retrenching as the pandemic restricts or discourages spending.

NEERA TANDEN, Office of Management and Budget director

Tanden is the president and CEO of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. She was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, but she first made her mark in the Clinton orbit.

Tanden served as policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. Before that,...