President-elect Barack Obama will name New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as commerce secretary, according to an unnamed Democratic official.
The source, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said Obama will make the announcement after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Richardson, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race in January and threw his support behind Obama, served as energy secretary and ambassador to the UN under former President Bill Clinton.
Obama is expected to name Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary and Lawrence Summers as head of the National Economic Council at a press conference on Monday.
If approved by the Senate, Geithner, who is currently head of the New York Federal Reserve, will be charged with leading Obama's response to the ongoing financial crisis.
Summers served as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton.
Obama, Bush should work together
Former U.S. secretary of state James Baker said Obama and outgoing President George Bush should meet face-to-face to coordinate a short-term plan to stabilize struggling U.S. financial markets.
Baker, who was serving as secretary of the treasury under Ronald Reagan when the stock market collapsed in 1987, suggested that the two devise a strategy to stabilize the markets and leave the mid- and long-term solutions to Obama for when he takes office.
Even the image of Bush and Obama working together could restore much of the confidence that has been lost on both Wall Street and Main Street, Baker said.
"Nothing would do more to create confidence and eliminate the fear and anxiety that's out there, particularly in financial markets, than to see the incoming president and the outgoing president get together on some sort of a proposal or a program over the short term," Baker said Sunday during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Baker warned that if immediate measures are not taken, the ongoing market instability will only get worse.
However, William Daley, a key adviser on Obama's transition team and a former secretary of commerce, would not endorse Baker's idea of a face-to-face meeting, and said market confidence would be restored if the president-elect could hit the ground running with a strong economic recovery plan.
Daley did allow that when Obama's economic team, which will be announced Monday, gets to work, it will allow for closer consultation with members of the Bush administration.
"As president-elect Obama's team gets put together starting tomorrow, there'll be a greater opportunity to work even closer," Daley said on "Meet the Press."'
Obama's plan
On Saturday, Obama announced his intention to create 2.5 million American jobs by 2011 as he outlined some of his plans for the U.S. economy during the weekly Democratic radio address.
Obama said he would like to modernize schools and implement other infrastructure programs, as well as invest in alternative energy technologies.
"There aren't just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis," Obama said. "There are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long."
Obama hopes to have his economic stimulus plan approved by Congress as soon as possible after he takes office, but warned that that recovery efforts will take some time.
With files from The Associated Press
