Fiorina reported in running to head World Bank
WASHINGTON (AP) - Carly Fiorina, the recently ousted chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co., is in the running to be the next president of the World Bank, a Bush administration official said Tuesday.
Fiorina's name is the latest to surface as a candidate to replace World Bank President James Wolfensohn. He is stepping down as head of the development bank on June 1 at the end of his second five-year term.
The Bush administration began the search for Wolfensohn's successor in early January and said it would talk to other countries that belong to the 184-nation World Bank.
Rob Nichols, spokesman for the Treasury Department, which is involved in the search, declined to comment on candidates for the post. He said the administration wanted to name a replacement before Wolfensohn's term ends.
Fiorina, as chief of the computer and printer giant, was one of the most high-profile CEOs in the country. During her nearly six-year tenure, she sought to reinvigorate the company. But the board felt she didn't execute its strategy quickly enough and dismissed her in early February.
Other names floated for the World Bank job include: John Taylor, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for international affairs; Peter McPherson, the former head of Michigan State University who served as Bush's point man on rebuilding Iraq's financial system; Randall Tobias, Bush's global AIDS coordinator; and Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The United States is the World Bank's largest member nation. The bank traditionally has had an American president. Its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, traditionally has been headed by a European.