Just for fun - and to see how close each of us get to the eventual real thing:
State - Either Susan Rice or Samantha Power, both important Obama foreign policy appointees
Treasury - I’d love to see Elizabeth Warren here, but she’s needed in the Senate (and a GOP governor would replace her if she left). Maybe Tom Steyer, or bring back Jack Lew?
Defense - I’m a Michelle Howard fan; high time for an experienced woman to lead the Pentagon: Michelle Howard - Wikipedia
Attorney General: Stacey Abrams - a smart cookie, and the President-elect owes her bigtime for Georgia
Interior - Steve Bullock
Agriculture - Amy Klobuchar (she’s on the Senate Ag Committee)
Commerce - Also a possible slot for Tom Steyer
Labor - Andrew Yang, maybe?
Health and Human Services - Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio, a smart, scrappy former head of the Congressional Black Caucus
Housing and Urban Development - Mayor Pete!
Transportation - Julian Castro
Energy - Jay Inslee
Education - Beto O’Rourke
Veterans Affairs - If Mayor Pete doesn’t get HUD, he might be a good fit here
Homeland Security - Joe Sestak
There are some other, lower posts with Cabinet rank, but these are the biggies.
One other thing: William Safire wrote that every Cabinet should contain at least one potential future President.
I’d like to see Susan Collins and Moscow Mitch in the cabinet (for just long enough for the governors of their states to fill their seats with Democrats).
Is Beto any more qualified than DeVos as education secretary? AFAIK, he’s not an educator, he’s never come near managing a school system at a regional or even local level.
Is the OP asking for our ideal picks for cabinet, or the picks that might end up really happening? Gotta take into account the obstructionism that McConnell is going to throw up.
There was speculation in the summer that Yang would play a role in the Biden administration having to do with technology. It wasn’t more specific about which role having to do with technology.
If you take that into account, there aren’t any picks that might end up really happening. If he decides to obstruct, which he most likely will, no amount of moderation or experience from the appointee would make the difference between being blocked and confirmed.
Yang’s been pretty vocal on Twitter about wanting to be Secretary of Labor, particularly because he really wants to drop the hammer on WWE for classifying their wrestlers as “independent contractors” even though they’re signed to exclusive deals, the company owns the rights to their names and social media presence, and their schedules, work hours, and performances are strictly scripted and enforced.
Fine, then we’ll have acting secretaries, ignore the confirmation process, and leave them in office indefinitely just as Trump did. Once Biden puts the nominees’ names forward, he’s done his job. I don’t think McConnell will get away with obstruction forever. He’ll get away with it until people notice. Moreover, I’m not convinced that McConnell’s grip on the senate will be iron clad. He might get some defectors.