WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is considering at least one business executive to serve as President Barack Obama's top economic adviser.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president is considering naming investment banker Roger Altman to replace National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers, who is leaving the White House at the end of the year to return to Harvard University.
Altman met with Obama at the White House Tuesday. However, Gibbs says the process to replace Summers is still in its early states and other good candidates are being considered. He wouldn't elaborate on who else was under consideration.
Altman served as Deputy Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton. He later founded Evercore Partners, an investment banking firm.
The White House has been criticized for having an economic team with experience steeped in academia, not the business world. Officials have said Obama may try to increase the private sector's presence in the administration to combat the notion that the president is antibusiness -- a perception the president said he hasn't done enough to correct.
"I've got to take responsibility in terms of making sure that I make clear to the business community as well as to the country that the most important thing we can do is to boost and encourage our business sector and make sure that they're hiring," Obama said during a news conference earlier this month.
