President Barack Obama announced today the appointment of Austan Goolsbee as leader of the Council of Economic Advisors. He will be one of four principal members of the team who’s duties include finding ways to add more jobs to the economy and lower the unemployment rate. “He is someone who has a deep appreciation of how the economy affects everyday people,” Obama said at a news conference in Washington. The President also called Goolsbee “one of the finest economists in the country.” Goolsbee, a former professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, replaces Christina Romer, the current council chair. He is joining the council with National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and, potentially, Jacob Lew, who is scheduled for a Senate hearing later this month to replace Peter Orszag as head of the Office of Management and Budget. Goolsbee’s appointment does not require a Senate vote. He has been an active member of Obama’s team of advisors since the 2008 campaign and also serves on the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, established in early 2009 to assist and structure the economic recovery. Write to Christine Ricciardi.