Wharton alumni head up bailout team

Two Penn grads have been tapped to lead the biggest financial bailout plan in history.

Assistant U.S. attorney and 1992 Penn alumnus Neil Barofsky appeared before the Senate last night after President George Bush nominated him as the special inspector general of the Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program.

If confirmed by the Senate, Barofsky will hold one of three overseer positions of the rescue operation and will be responsible for monitoring how the government spends the $700 billion of bailout funds.

Barofsky earned two bachelor's degrees from Penn, including one from Wharton.

His nomination follows on the heels of fellow Penn grad Neel Kashkari's appointment in October as "bailout czar" - Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability.

A former Vice President of Goldman Sachs, Kashkari was hired in 2006 to be senior advisor to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, Jr. He received an MBA in Finance from Wharton in 2002.

Wharton Vice Dean and Graduate Division Director Anjani Jain remembers Kashkari as one of the strongest students in his Operations and Information Management 621 class and said he was engaged in a number of extracurriculars, including the Wharton Finance Club.

"I remember him as a warm, considerate and very bright student, who led by example and got a lot done through gentle persuasion," Jain said.

Michael Useem, director of the Wharton MBA program's Center for Leadership and Change Management, recalled teaching Kashkari in a recent interview with ABC News.

"Kashkari is making many final judgment calls, but I would infer from his past learning that he will have to work as a team and consult quite a bit," Useem said in the interview.

During his time at Wharton, Kashkari participated in a mock venture in which he and his classmates supplied aid to Bosnian refugees during a cease-fire. Useem drew a parallel between the classroom exercise and Kashkari's current challenge.

"You've got banks, mortgage lenders, several congressional committees, the White House, Henry Paulson and Wall Street, to name a few, and each of these groups brings their own set of concerns," Useem said. "He is, in that sense, again at the center of pulling these various groups together to get his mission accomplished."

Current students are also excited that two of their own will take on such prominent roles in the economy.

"I'm very proud to see a Wharton student being appointed to such a top financial position and there are definitely traits of [Kashkari] that I can see that are products of Wharton," said second-year MBA student Mary-Katherine Brooks.

Brooks co-chaired this year's Wharton Finance Conference, where Kashkari was the keynote speaker.

And while his young age may be a concern to some, Brooks said she has full confidence in his abilities.

"Anyone who was appointed at his young age commands a lot of attention and I think people will question the appointment," Brooks said.

"But after watching him speak publicly and seeing his composure and passion and resolve to work out the crisis, any doubt . should have been dissuaded."

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