From Private Equity to Public Servants
The revolving door between politics and private equity has typically been dominated by public servants becoming private-sector millionaires. Over the past few months, however, it seems to have reversed course. Yesterday, The Department of Energy yesterday named Jonathan Silver, a former managing director with Core Capital Partners, as executive director of the DoE’s loan program. This came just hours after President Obama said that he will nominate Joshua Gotbaum, an operating partner with Blue Wolf Capital Management, to be director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. What follows is a list of other private equity pros who have taken government jobs since Obama took office this past January: Jeffrey Goldstein: A managing director with Hellman & Friedman since 2005, Goldstein left over the summer to become Traeasury's undersecretary for domestic finance. Prior to joining Hellman & Friedman, Goldstein spent five years as managing director of The World Bank. Matthew Kabaker: A managing director with The Blackstone Group, Kabaker was one of Tim Geithner's first hires as a senior advisor. Kabaker had joined Blackstone in 1998, and served on the boards of portfolio companies Alliant Insurance, Ariel Re, TRW Automotive, FGIC, HealthMarkets and Michaels Stores. At the time of his hiring, sources said that Kabaker's experience with financial institutions made him particularly qualified to help handle the TARP and toxic asset programs.
