29 Jan 2009
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Caroline Atkinson, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund, is a leading candidate to become undersecretary of international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, three people familiar with the matter said.Atkinson, who took over as the IMF's director of external relations in November, worked at Treasury during the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis alongside the department's new secretary, Timothy Geithner, and Lawrence Summers, now director of the White House's National Economic Council.
"She's a seasoned professional, well versed in the issues and with all the right attributes to make an immediate and lasting contribution," said Timothy Adams, who served as Treasury undersecretary from 2005 to 2007 and is now a managing director of the Lindsey Group in Fairfax, Virginia.
The role Atkinson is being considered for is the Treasury's point person on issues ranging from China's currency regime to coordination of economic policy with other members of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. While much of President Barack Obama's efforts in the early days of his administration has been focused on getting his $825 billion stimulus package passed by Congress, he's also stressed the importance of working with other countries to promote a global economic recovery.
A final decision on who'll get the job hasn't been made as Geithner, who was just sworn in Jan. 26, is still assembling his team. Peter Blair Henry, a professor at Stanford University's Business School in Palo Alto, California, is also under consideration for a position in international affairs at Treasury, reporting to the undersecretary, the people said.
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A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday. Atkinson and the IMF declined to comment, a spokesman said. Henry didn't return a phone call seeking his comment.
Before taking her current job at the IMF, Atkinson served as the Fund's deputy director for the Western Hemisphere. A one-time columnist for the Washington Post newspaper, Atkinson was a special adviser for financial stability at the Bank of England from 1994 to 1996.
She served four years at Treasury, leaving her post as senior deputy assistant for international affairs in 2001. She also had a two-year stint as a senior director at investor consultancy Stonebridge International LLC in Washington before taking up her post as deputy director at the IMF in 2005.
