World Bank president James Wolfensohn will step down from his role in May and President Bush has the opportunity to appoint a game-changer to head up the bank at this critical time. Since there has been a lot of speculation recently about Carly Fiorina filling that role (who I think would be great), there are two other Silicon Valley candidates that should also be considered.
The first is Floyd Kvamme. Floyd is partner emeritus at Kleiner Perkins -- one of the most prestigious venture capital firms in the world and he's currently co-Chair of President Bush's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (P-CAST). He was one of five founders of National Semiconductor in 1967 and he's had extensive international dealings (especially in Asia) ever since.
The other candidate is also a semi guy. George Scalise is currently president of the Semiconductor Industry Association and also chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. At SIA, he has to travel the world and build strong ties with people in many countries.
President Bush is already well acquainted with both Floyd and George and he should think strongly about looking to appoint one of them as the next president of the World Bank.
