White House poised to nominate Dartmouth College President for World Bank chieftainship

vermontaigne | 9:43 AM on March 23, 2012

Hope he has better luck than with Dartmouth alum Turbo Tax Tim Geithner. BBC:

President Obama is set to nominate Korean-born US academic Jim Yong Kim to be the next president of the World Bank, according to reports.

The nomination of the Dartmouth College President, a doctor and former director of the HIV/Aids department at the World Health Organization, is a surprise.

Three African countries have endorsed the nomination of Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The US has always held the post since the World Bank was founded in 1944.

But there is pressure for the next head to be from a developing nation.

The deadline for nominations to replace Robert Zoellick is 18:00 Washington time (22:00 GMT) on Friday.

Given this administration’s economic track record, we’re almost hoping the appointment won’t be our President’s guy.