Former Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner, who served in the first term of President Barack Obama's administration, recently announced that he would be joining private equity company Warburg Pincus. Apparently, he is not the only one moving to the private sector. A report from The New York Times Dealbook showed that former members of President Obama's first-term finance team have been making the jump from the public to private sector.
Mary Schapiro, who formerly headed the Securities and Exchange Commission, is now one of the top executives of bank consultancy firm Promontory Financial Group. During her stint at the SEC, she was given the job of rebuilding the agency after it received flak for missing the red flags that led to the financial crisis and the Bernard L. Madoff fraud. Meanwhile, Robert Khuzami, the enforcement chief of the SEC during the first term of President Obama left the regulatory agency in January this year. He said he intended to join Kirkland & Ellis, a law firm. He was responsible for filing big cases against various banks. The lawsuit he brought against Goldman Sachs yielded a hefty settlement amounting to USD 550 million.
Former Head of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag left public service three years ago. He is now the Vice Chairman of Corporate and Investment Banking at Citigroup. Former Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Jeffrey Goldstein left the department two years ago. He is now with private equity company Hellman & Friedman, his former employer.
Steven Rattner worked with the automotive task force under the first term of President Obama and oversaw the bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler. After five months, he left his post and now takes care of the wealth of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
James Millstein, a former corporate lawyer, worked as the restructuring chief of the Treasury. He managed the reorganization of American International Group and returned it to the private markets via a stock offering. He now heads financial advisory firm Millstein & Company after leaving public service two years ago.
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