The first time former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice encountered Kevin Warsh was in the 1990s. She was an associate professor of political science at Stanford University, and he was an undergraduate. Rice knew immediately that Warsh would go on to do something special. Admittedly, this isn’t an unusual phenomenon—it’s Stanford, after all.
However, by the fourth or fifth time Warsh knocked on her door in hopes of securing an audience during office hours, Rice realized Warsh wasn’t just bright; he was unusually determined—even by elite academia standards.
“He was persistent,” Rice told Fortune in an exclusive interview. “Kevin’s one of those people who demands more of himself than others could ever.”
Any insight into the enigma that is Warsh, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, is of use to Wall Street and economists around the world. Warsh’s voice sets the tone CEOs listen to before making their biggest borrowing bets, that foreign investors study for details on the trajectory of the U.S. economy, and that consumers rely on to strengthen the value of their wallets.
