White House recruits IMF communications chief

White House recruits IMF communications chief

(AFP) – 2 days ago

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday announced its top spokesperson, Caroline Atkinson, is leaving the Fund to become a special assistant to US President Barack Obama.

Atkinson, the director of external relations at the Washington-based global lender, will join the White House in August as "special assistant to the president for international economic affairs," the IMF said in a statement.

After a career spanning the IMF, the US Treasury and the Bank of England, the British-US national, an Oxford graduate and former journalist, returned to the IMF in November 2008 as head of external relations amid the financial crisis that triggered the global recession.

The White House tried to recruit her, a few months after Obama took office in January 2009, as a deputy to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. But she decided to remain at the Fund.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

HINKY HINKY HINKY

IMF Spokeswoman Atkinson Tapped To Be Obama's International Economics Adviser

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- International Monetary Fund chief spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson is heading to the White House to advise the president on international economics, the fund said Thursday.

Atkinson, a longtime colleague of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, will replace John Lipton as Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. Lipton has been named as first deputy director at the IMF.

The Lipton and Atkinson appointments give the U.S., the IMF's biggest and most powerful shareholder, an open channel of communications between the White House and the fund.

Atkinson was primary adviser on international monetary and financial policy to former Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers in the 1990s, including during Asia's financial crisis. During her previous tenure at the IMF, Atkinson worked on a number of projects, including the Latin American debt crisis and development of Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism, which laid the foundation for the European Union and the euro.

Atkinson rejoined the IMF in 2004. Four years later, former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn promoted Atkinson from deputy director for the Western Hemisphere to director of external relations. She was tapped in 2009 to be Geithner's undersecretary for international affairs, but withdrew from consideration after facing a tough nomination approval process in the Senate.

Atkinson also worked in the Bank of England and as a journalist for the Washington Post and The Economist. She holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University

The IMF said Atkinson will officially depart Aug. 5. The fund will shortly begin the search for a new external-relations director.

White House and Treasury spokeswomen weren't immediately able to comment.

Wonder why the Senate did not like her? Will definitely be a back door channel in place. If Obama does not get re-elected she is out of a job, so why would she leave the IMF this close to an election year? Possible replacement for Geithner if he leaves but if so there is still the Senate nomination process? HMMMMMMMMMMMM

Maybe she knows the RV is coming, and may help turn things around? (WE HOPE)