All the president's men ... and women

Hillary Clinton: Wife of former president Bill Clinton ran against Mr Obama in the Democratic race to be presidential candidate. After stint as First Lady ended in 2001 she served as a New York senator. The 61-year-old was appointed to serve as the 67th US Secretary of State.

Larry Summers: As director of the National Economic Council, economic policy "runs through him". The 54-year-old had a brilliant academic career, was Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary and then became president of Harvard. His role is to guide the attempt to get the US economy back on track but critics say he helped cause the problems in the Nineties and is too close to Wall Street.

Christina Romer: Professor of economics at University of California, Berkeley, who was appointed chairwomn of the Council of Economic Advisers. A 50-year-old mother-of-three, she is a former vice-president of the American Economic Association and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Was given task of co-writing economic recovery plan and jobs creation package submitted to Congress.