“Private equity firm Warburg Pincus recently made what seemed to be an innocuous change on its website – reclassifying co-presidents Joe Landy and Charles Kaye as co-CEOs. But it seems this was a precursor to this past weekend’s big news: The hiring of former U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner as president and managing director, effective next March. He also will be part of the firm’s executive management group (effectively replacing Kewsong Lee, who just bolted for Carlyle Group).
“My gut take is that this is a smart move. Geithner obviously understands how to manage a large organization (thanks to both his Treasury and NY Fed experience), plus he should have good insights into a wide array of industry sectors (including, of course, financial services). And, yes, his political connections could come in handy.
“Also worth noting, however, that some critics already have begun to pounce on what they refer to as an untoward ‘revolving door’ nature of Geithner’s hire. For example, Better Markets CEO Dennis Kelleher said:
‘Proving his critics right, Geithner will now be richly rewarded by the very industry he worked so hard as a public official to bail out with taxpayer money and which he was supposed to regulate but did not.'”
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