Treasury Secretary Short List: Lawrence Summers

Nov. 7, 2008 -- President-elect Barack Obama could be looking back to find the future leader of the American financial system.

Larry Summers, President Clinton's last treasury secretary, is reportedly at the top of the list of candidates being considered to fill the role of chief financial officer of the government.

And he probably should be.

Summers' economic credentials are sterling -- an undergraduate degree from MIT and a doctoral degree in economics from Harvard. He has written influential academic papers, became one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard's history at the age of 28 and served as chief economist of the World Bank. He even worked as an economic adviser in the Reagan administration.

"Larry Summers embodies a rare combination as one of the most respected scholars and one of the most influential public servants of his generation," said Robert Stone, chairman of the Harvard presidential search committee, in 2001.

His time at Treasury was marked by dramatic economic expansion, federal budget surpluses and effective government responses to the 1997 Asian and 1998 Russian financial crisis. Summers is widely recognized as being an effective leader during his nine-year stint in various roles at the Treasury Department.

But if Obama is impressed with Summers, he comes with some baggage that could hurt his chances.

After leaving Treasury in 2001, Summers became the president of Harvard. His tenure there was marked by a series of controversies.

The most damning was when he said basic genetic differences between the sexes may be one reason why fewer women succeed in math and science careers.

"Summers' suggestion that women are inferior to men in their ability to excel at math and science is more than an example of personal sexism," said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization of Women at the time. "It is a clue to why women have not been more fully accepted and integrated into the tenured faculty at Harvard since he has been president."