President Donald Trump named his nominee for Federal Reserve chair on Friday morning, and it’s the odds-on favorite Kevin Warsh.
Warsh was among the front-runners to replace current Chair Jerome Powell for many months, particularly after Trump said he’d been impressed by the “two Kevins” (Warsh and Kevin Hassett, director of the U.S. National Economic Council) during the interview process. Trump confirmed Warsh’s nomination to lead the central bank on Truth Social on Friday, writing that he had “known Kevin for a long period of time, and [had] no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best.”
Warsh has the credentials the market likes to see atop the central bank: He knows the inner workings of the central bank courtesy of a stint on the Board of Governors from 2006 until 2011, and he was a key player in the inner circle of then-Chairman Ben Bernanke as the nation navigated a financial crisis.
He knows Washington, having been brought into the fold by President George W. Bush in 2002, when he served as special assistant to the president for economic policy and as executive secretary at the National Economic Council.
He also has the private sector experience Trump favors. (Scott Bessent, pre–Treasury secretary, was CEO of global hedge fund Key Square Capital Management). Between 1995 and 2002, Warsh worked for Morgan Stanley, his final role being vice president and executive director.
But what’s known of Warsh outside of his CV?
His plans for the Fed echo the rhetoric Bessent has been pushing for a while (the duo occupied the same Wall Street circle for years): The Fed should be taking a more back-seat approach. Investors may not like this early on; they have grown used to poring over the many updates on the Fed’s thinking courtesy of press conferences, public appearances, the Beige Book, and tools like the dot plot.
Having been introduced to the Fed under Bernanke, Warsh is also likely to follow in his mentor’s footsteps when it comes to leadership. While Powell receives praise for his ability to herd the many cats of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) toward a consensus, the Harvard and Stanford alum may instead establish strategies with a smaller group of allies, before expanding his thinking to the wider group.
As to Warsh’s current inner circle, in 2002 he married Jane Lauder, granddaughter of Estée Lauder and an heiress to the beauty empire. Perhaps unusually for the Washington elite, they invest both time and money in improving pet longevity—inspired by their goldendoodle named Thaddeus. In November, Lauder (named as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women), with her investment firm, TAW Ventures, led a funding round for the British fresh dog food brand Marleybones.
