Who is Neera Tanden, the Indian-American expected to Joe Biden’s next budget chief?

New Delhi: According to reports, US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name top members of his economic team this week including Indian-American Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Neera Tanden is currently serving as the chief executive of the Center for American Progress. The 50-year old would be the first woman of color to head the Office of Management and Budget.

Tanden has already served as a senior adviser for health reform with the US Department of Health and Human Services where she actively worked on structuring the Affordable Care Act, known popularly as Obamacare.

Biden has picked several women for several key positions

Biden is expected to name Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton labor economist, to run the Council of Economic Advisers, and Tanden, the chief executive of the Center for American Progress, to lead the Office of Management and Budget, New York Times reported.

The announcement, which will also include Biden’s decision to name Janet L Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, as Treasury secretary would potentially culminate in several women in top economic roles, including the first Black woman to lead the Council of Economic Advisers and the first Indian-American to lead the Office of Management and Budget, New York Times further reported.

Biden’s top economic aides during his presidential campaign, Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey will also be named to the Council of Economic Advisers.

“President Biden’s appointments show that he is quadrupling down on his commitment to working people and raising wages,” said Jason Furman, an economist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the former head of the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Barack Obama.

In addition, Biden is expected to name Adewale Adeyemo, a senior international economic adviser in the Obama administration, as Deputy Treasury Secretary.

Meanwhile, several women have been selected for high-level national security positions like Avril Haines, a candidate for CIA director or director of national intelligence; Susan Rice, a contender for secretary of State; and Michele Flournoy, for secretary of Defense.

Among the women who will be holding important positions is Kamala Harris, who has been chosen as the Vice-President. She is the first woman, the first Black and the first Indian-American to have been elected for the vice president post.