President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to be chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve on Friday, elevating an outspoken critic of the Fed’s current leadership  who has recently indicated support for Trump’s broad goals of lowering interest rates.

“I think the Fed has the balance wrong. A rate cut is the beginning of the process to get the balance right,” Warsh said in an interview in July. But he is not a lock on reflexively lowering rates to align with Trump’s agenda. The Wall Street Journal editorial board said Friday that Warsh’s selection was notable given that his longstanding views on monetary policy could run against Trump’s desire to quickly lower interest rates.

Warsh has angled for the position for some time, first lobbying for it in Trump’s first term, before Trump selected current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in 2017. Warsh has a personal connection to Trump ally Ronald Lauder, the World Jewish Congress president who has known Trump since they were both in college at the University of Pennsylvania: Warsh is married to Lauder’s daughter, Jane. 

The billionaire Lauder family are heirs to the Estée Lauder Companies, the cosmetics company founded by Ron Lauder’s parents. Warsh, who is also Jewish, grew up near Albany. 

Trump has made no secret in recent months of his frustration with Powell over his decision not to cut interest rates as aggressively as the president prefers. The Justice Department opened an investigation into Powell this month relating to allegations that his renovations of the Fed headquarters have gone significantly over budget — a move that prompted an unprecedented video from Powell asserting the Fed’s independence from the president. Powell’s term ends in May. 

Warsh, who was an economic policy advisor to President George W. Bush, served as a member of the Fed’s board from 2006 to 2011. He stepped down from the board due to disagreements with the body’s handling of the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and has since been an advocate for reform at the Fed.  

“Inflation is a choice,” Warsh argued in a 2025 podcast interview, where he claimed the Fed needs to reform after losing “track of what’s happening to us in the center of the country.” 

Warsh was a contender for Federal Reserve chairman during Trump’s first term, and the president had reportedly considered Warsh for the role of Treasury Secretary in his second term.

Warsh has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard. Before joining the Bush administration, he worked at Morgan Stanley in New York. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and he works in the family office of billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller.