A 35-year-old former heavy-metal head who used to develop technology for NASA space missions has been tapped as the interim leader of the $700 billion rescue plan.
Meet Neel Kashkari, the financial whiz kid, fitness buff and avid Cleveland Browns fan tapped to save the free-falling economy.
“Better him than me!” said Jerri Norcio, a neighbor in Silver Spring, Md.
The ex-Goldman Sachs vice president lives in the pleasant Washington, DC suburb with wife, Minal, 32, and their enormous brown shaggy Newfoundland dog, Winslow – named after former Browns star tight end Kellen Winslow.
The couple, who met in college, moved there from California when Kashkari was named assistant Treasury secretary.
His big sister, Meera Kelly, said she was proud to learn about her brother’s promotion to interim assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability.
“He’s very hardworking, and he’s very committed,” said Kelly, who lives in North Carolina. “He’s going to want to make sure this rolls out and is as effective as possible given all that’s at stake.”
He was hired to work for the government after a Goldman Sachs boss recommended him to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who once headed the investment firm.
“He didn’t know Henry Paulson that well until he started working for him,” Kelly said. “The past two years, they’ve been working very closely together.”
Kashkari has a master’s degree in engineering and obtained an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.
And when he wasn’t hitting the books, it appears he was rocking out to heavy metal. His high school yearbook is filled with quotes he chose from rock bands like AC/DC and Rush.