FACTBOX: Obama's cabinet taking shape

(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama picked Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan to be his education secretary on Tuesday, the latest in a series of announcements on who will serve in his administration after it takes office on January 20.

Here are people Obama has chosen or is said to be considering for key posts. Many remain subject to vetting and Senate confirmation before taking office.

SECRETARY OF STATE

* New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's former Democratic Party rival for the White House, was named to the top diplomatic post. The move is seen as part of Obama's effort to rebuild America's reputation abroad. Aides have said Obama admires Clinton's work ethic and also believes the former first lady's star power would boost his vision of improving America's global standing.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

* Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, named by President George W. Bush in late 2006, is considered a moderate voice on the Republican's national security team and embodies an important signal of continuity. Obama had said early on he would include Republicans in his Cabinet and the 65-year-old Gates has been lauded by members of both parties since taking over the Pentagon from Donald Rumsfeld.

TREASURY SECRETARY

* Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, is Obama's choice for the Treasury Department, making him Obama's point person in dealing with the economic crisis. Geithner has helped lead efforts to stabilize financial markets and argued that banks crucial to the global financial system should operate under a unified regulatory framework.

HOMELAND SECURITY

* Janet Napolitano, the Democratic governor of Arizona, was named to head the U.S. Homeland Security Department, a sprawling agency formed to bolster civil defense following the September 11 attacks.

NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL

* Lawrence Summers, 53, has been chosen to head the council. He was Treasury secretary for the final 1 1/2 years of the Clinton administration and has been a senior adviser to Obama for several months, helping to guide his response to the financial meltdown.

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER

* Retired Marine Gen. James Jones, the former top operational commander of NATO, was named by Obama to be his national security adviser. Jones is widely respected by both Democrats and Republicans and has avoided aligning himself with either party but is known to have been a strong critic of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

* Eric Holder, a former Justice Department official in the Clinton administration, will run the Justice Department. Holder has been a senior legal advisor to Obama's campaign and helped vet his vice presidential candidates.

SECRETARY OF ENERGY

* Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics, was announced Monday as Obama's choice for secretary of energy. Chu was an early advocate for finding scientific solutions to climate change and guided the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory to become the world leader in alternative and renewable energy research.

SECRETARY OF INTERIOR

* A senior Democrat said on Monday Obama would nominate Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, who once practiced as an environmental lawyer. The son of Americans of Mexican descent, he would be the second Hispanic named to Obama's Cabinet. He would be a key member of Obama's energy team who would oversee the leasing of federal lands for oil and gas drilling.

COMMERCE SECRETARY

* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, 61, a former U.N. ambassador and energy secretary during the Clinton administration, had been an early supporter of Obama after dropping his own presidential ambitions. Richardson's appointment makes him the first Hispanic leader nominated to the Obama Cabinet.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT COORDINATOR

* Carol Browner, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration, was named to a new position coordinating White House policy on energy, climate and environmental issues. The new position was expected to spearhead climate change policy.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR

* Lisa Jackson has served as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection in New Jersey and was named to hold a similar U.S. position in the Obama administration. Jackson worked at the EPA for 16 years at the headquarters in Washington and in New York City.

SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

* Shaun Donovan, the head of New York's housing department, was nominated by Obama to run the department charged with providing affordable housing to all Americans. The Harvard-educated Donovan worked in the department under former President Bill Clinton and has focused his career mainly on affordable housing issues.

SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

* Tom Daschle, a key early supporter and savvy former U.S. Senate leader, has been selected by Obama as secretary of health and human services. The high-profile selection signals that the push to extend health coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans will be a high priority for Obama.

SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

* Arne Duncan, head of the Chicago public school system, is Obama's pick for secretary of education. Duncan, a fellow Harvard graduate and long-time friend of Obama's, has earned a strong reputation at the helm of the country's third-largest public school district, tackling problems including teacher quality and failing schools.

*SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE

Tom Vilsack, a former governor from the major U.S. farm state Iowa, is Obama's choice to be agriculture secretary, a Democratic official said on Tuesday. Vilsack backs tighter farm subsidy rules and new-generation biofuels. One of his major issues as governor was bringing more high-tech agribusiness to Iowa.

(Reporting by Deborah Charles, Caren Bohan, Andrew Quinn and Jeff Mason; Editing by Anthony Boadle)