President-elect Barack Obama will name former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as the head of a special economic advisory board, sources tell CNN.

The group, which could include another 8-16 members, is expected to provide the new administration with outside advice on dealing with the nation's financial crisis. It will exist for two years and will meet roughly once a month.

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Obama is expected to make the announcement Wednesday during a press conference in Chicago.

Volcker presided over the Fed from 1979 to 1987, a period of extreme financial unrest. Volcker is known for raising interest rates to historic highs under the Carter and Reagan administrations in order to combat out-of-control inflation. He also served in a variety of positions with the Treasury, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the New York Fed.

Obama will also appoint University of Chicago economics professor Austan Goolsbee as the board's chief economist.

Goolsbee, who was a prominent adviser in Obama's election campaign, is a member of the panel of economists that advises the Congressional Budget Office. He is also a a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

On Tuesday, Obama nominated Peter Orszag to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the president's chief number-crunching department.

Obama nominated New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner to be Treasury Secretary on Monday. And he tapped former Harvard President Lawrence Summers as the director of the National Economic Council.

The appointments come as Obama prepares to take office amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Obama will be sworn in Jan. 20.

"I've sought leaders who could offer both sound judgment and fresh thinking, both a depth of experience and a wealth of bold, new ideas, and most of all who share my fundamental belief that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street without a thriving Main Street," Obama said at a press conference Monday in Chicago.

-- CNN's Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.