Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has just named Joaquim Levy, a former treasury secretary, as finance minister of the Latin American country.

Joaquim Levy, 53, is a University of Chicago-trained economist with a reputation as a fiscal conservative.

A top executive with the Brazilian bank Bradesco, Levy has worked at the International Monetary Fund and already enjoys a strong history in Brazil.

He has worked with Rousseff’s predecessors Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

During his 2003-2006 tenure as treasury secretary, Levy helped push the nation toward growth by reducing debt.

For the manner in which he routinely slashes costs, Levy has been nicknamed "Scissorhands" by his fellow economists.

Levy has earned a reputation for being obstinate. And once, as relayed in an AP article, he butted heads so severely with Rousseff, who was at the time minister of mines and energy, that he was thrown out of her office.

The appointment of Levy is seen as a sign of President Rousseff's willingness to attempt the major reforms required in order to jumpstart Brazil’s economy.

Levy will succeed Guido Mantega, who was appointed to the post in 2006 under Silva. During her re-election campaign, Rousseff stressed Mantega would not stay on for a second term.

Alex Augustin, the chief economist for the Sao Paulo-based credit rating agency Austin Rating, championed Levy's appointment, going on to say that though Brazil's credibility among investors and businessmen had deteriorated as of late, “the appointment of someone like Levy with an orthodox and pragmatic profile who worked in the government in 2004 and improved the country's public debt profile should start changing things."

The appointment of such a conservative economist to Rousseff’s administration is not without its controversy.

Some within Rousseff’s Workers’ Party are opposed to the appointment of a banker who is seen as a champion of conservative fiscal policy.

Rousseff, a trained economist and former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured under Brazil’s military dictatorship, is known to be deeply involved in overseeing economic policy and may serve as the greatest check against Levy’s eventual economic agenda.