After Obama's victory in the 2008 election, Geithner had a rocky start in Washington as he faced Senate scrutiny over his failure to pay self-employment tax returns while he worked at the International Monetary Fund. He paid some of the taxes after being audited by the IRS and didn't pay the rest until it was clear he would be nominated for the Treasury post, according to the Senate Finance Committee.
His initial moves to return financial markets to health were rebuffed by Wall Street. On Feb. 10, 2009, when Geithner unveiled a plan to bolster the banking system, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index tumbled 4.9 percent.
As Obama's presidency progressed, and the economy began to recovery, Geithner's stature grew.
"Tim was very influential from day one," said former CEA chairman Christina Romer. "In some sense, his public persona has just caught up with what has always been true inside the White House."
Departures
In addition to Goolsbee, who announced his decision to return to the University of Chicago earlier this month, three other top Obama economic advisers already have departed. At the CEA, Goolsbee replaced Romer, who returned to teaching at the University of California at Berkeley last September. National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag left the administration last year. Summers returned to Harvard University, and Orszag is now vice chairman of global banking at Citigroup Inc.
Geithner earned a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. After graduate school, he worked for three years at a global consulting firm founded by Henry A. Kissinger.