Prime Minister - Iyad AllawiA neurologist and businessman educated in Baghdad and London, Mr Allawi hails from a wealthy Baghdad merchant family with a strong political heritage - his grandfather helped negotiate Iraq's independence from Britain in 1920. A member of the Baath party before Saddam Hussein became president, Mr Allawi left Iraq in 1971 to continue his studies and turned against the party.
Saddam sent axe-wielding henchmen to try to assassinate him in his London home in 1978. With backing from Britain's MI6 and the CIA, Mr Allawi became a powerful anti-regime exile, forming the Iraqi National Accord, bringing together former Baathists and military commanders opposed to the dictatorship. The group organised a failed coup against Saddam in 1996. A secular Shia Muslim, Mr Allawi (58) was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council before being named prime minister last week.
Foreign Minister - Hoshiyar Zebari
An increasingly recognisable figure on the world stage, Mr Zebari remains foreign minister, a post he has held since last September and used to promote Iraq's role in the world at the UN and to foreign governments. Born in the northern Kurdish town of Aqra in 1953, Mr Zebari studied political science in Jordan and went on to earn a master's degree in sociology from Essex University in Britain in 1979. The same year he joined the central committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and became an energetic lobbyist for the rights of Iraq's oppressed Kurdish minority. Before returning to Iraq after Saddam's overthrow, Mr Zebari headed the KDP's international relations office for 15 years. He is considered a knowlegeable and well-versed diplomat, who relishes his international status.
Minister of Defence - Hazim al-Shaalan
Born in the southern Iraq city of Diwaniya in 1947, Mr al-Shaalan earned degrees in economics and management from Baghdad University in the early 1970s, then managed several branches of the Iraqi Real Estate Bank across southern Iraq. He was forced to leave Iraq in 1985 because of his opposition to the regime, going into exile in Britain, where he oversaw a real estate company. After the overthrow of Saddam, Mr al-Shaalan returned to Iraq and was appointed governor of Diwaniya, in the Shia-dominated south. He is little known to Iraqis and has kept a low profile over the past year.
Minister of Interior - Falah al-Naqib
Born into a prominent military family in the Sunni-dominated town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, Mr Naqib's father was a chief-of-staff in the 1960s. Mr Naqib (48) was trained as a civil engineer and studied in the US.
He was a member of Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress movement in exile, spending time in Syria, before joining the Iraqi National Movement, a Sunni offshoot of the INC headed by Mr Naqib's father. Following Saddam's overthrow, Mr Nakib returned to Iraq and was appointed governor of Salahaddin province, after the US-led administration removed the first governor it had appointed.
Oil Minister - Thamir Ghadhban
Born in 1945 in Babil province, Mr Ghadhban earned a degree in geology from University College London and a master's in petroleum reservoir engineering from London's Imperial College, then returned to Iraq and worked as a Oil Ministry reservoir engineer. For three decades he headed ministry departments and he was named its chief executive officer after last year's invasion. Earlier in his career he was detained and demoted for supporting democratic reforms. He is considered the foremost oil expert in the country with the world's largest reserves after Saudi Arabia. "It is a very large responsibility in a difficult situation," he said on Tuesday. "I have been here since the beginning. Iraqi oil is very dear to me and I will bear that responsibility."