40-Year-Old Ex-Morgan Stanley VP Quits the Fed

Kevin Warsh, the youngest man (or woman) to ever serve on the board of the U.S. Federal Reserve, will be stepping down in March.

The 40-year-old Warsh -- who was instrumental in helping Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke orchestrate such groundbreaking moves like letting Lehman die, saving AIG's hide, and getting Jamie Dimon a good deal on Bear Stearns -- has been outspoken against the Fed's (aka Bernanke's) more recent decision to buy back hundreds of billions of dollars in Treasury securities. Warsh has even "at times distanced himself from Mr. Bernanke, who has pushed the Fed to take extraordinary measures to speed the recovery."

Although Warsh voted for the Fed's bond-buying strategy, "by Fed tradition, members of the board almost never vote against the chairman," and he has gone on record to speak out against it.

As of yet, there's been no public word about Warsh's next move. But judging upon his already rather impressive resume, it will not be something small.

Warsh, a native of Albany, N.Y., graduated with honors from Stanford and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School. After leaving Boston, Warsh went to New York where he worked for Morgan Stanley's M&A department. Warsh left the bank seven years later (as an executive VP) to join President G.W.'s cabinet, where he first worked "as a special assistant for economic policy and then as executive secretary of the National Economic Council. He was sworn in as a Fed governor in February 2006, at age 35."

Also, in 2002, he married Jane Lauder, granddaughter of Estée and one of the heirs to the cosmetic company's fortune.

In 2009, Warsh nearly took over Tiny Tim Geithner's ex-post as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York when Geithner was nominated as U.S. Treasury Secretary. Warsh was a finalist for the post, but ultimately beaten out by a dude named Dudley -- that is, William C. Dudley, an ex-economist for a little bank called Goldman Sachs.

It's possible that Warsh could redeem the loss soon, especially if the economy doesn't turn around and not too many more Republicans send shirtless photos of themselves to women they meet on Craigslist.

Warsh "has broad connections in conservative policy circles" and "is occasionally mentioned as a possible candidate for Treasury secretary in a Republican administration."

(NYT)

(Related: Finance Jobs With the Feds)