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By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
POSTED: 01:56 p.m. EDT, Apr 10, 2009
HUDSON: The man responsible for overseeing the nation's $700 billion government bailout package told students at his high school alma mater that he's failed at many things in life — and he was grateful for that.
Neel Kashkari, a 1991 graduate of Western Reserve Academy, returned to the private school in Hudson today to talk to students about his three careers and ascent to be in charge of an unprecedented government program by his mid-30s.
The Stow native told the 400 Western Reserve students and limited faculty and alumni able to fit into the school's chapel that he'd given a lot of speeches since being named the interim assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial stability last October. But he said the speech to students at his alma mater was more challenging.
''You're a tougher audience in what's going to be interesting to you,'' he said.
Kashkari kept the audience engaged by giving them advice based on what he's learned in his 18 years since leaving Western Reserve and talking to them about the nation's credit crisis.
Kashkari told the students that he went to the University of Illinois for his undergraduate career because he knew it was a top engineering school.
''I'll tell you candidly, I could never have gotten into MIT or Stanford. I didn't have the grades and didn't even apply,'' he said, telling students to go to a college with the best program for the best financial deal.
By the time Kashkari was interested in graduate school, he had his heart set on Harvard.
''I got wait-listed,'' he said. ''Don't have your heart set on one school. Great things can happen if you go to your No. 2 or No. 4 university of your choice.
''Harvard is much stricter on going to all of your classes,'' he quipped.
Even getting a job at the U.S. Treasury was the result of one door closing, Kashkari said.
Kashkari was trying to get into a prestigious White House Fellowship program for mid-career people. As part of the process, his boss at Goldman Sachs got him a letter of recommendation from the company's then-Chief Executive Officer Henry Paulson.
But Kashkari got rejected from the program halfway through the process.
Two months later, Paulson got tapped to be Treasury secretary.
Kashkari said he called Paulson, asked if he remembered him, and said he wanted to go to Washington with him.
''Ten days later, I moved to Washington and was sworn in the same day as Paulson,'' he said. ‘‘The interesting lesson for me - what I thought I had my heart set on, the White House fellowship - the best thing that ever happened to me was getting rejected by that program. It pushed me to pick up the phone, call the CEO and say ‘I want to come with you.’ I came into Treasury in a much more senior role than a White House fellow. I had much more responsibility and much more access to the (Treasury) secretary. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, even though I thought I wanted something else.’’
Kashkari said he knows the American public is angry about aspects of the bailout, but said he believes the government is doing the right thing to stabilize the financial system for the benefit of all Americans.
During a question and answer period, one student asked Kashkari how he overcame his disappointments.
''I just moved on,'' he said. ''It doesn't serve any of us well to spend too much time being disappointed.''
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com.
HUDSON: The man responsible for overseeing the nation's $700 billion government bailout package told students at his high school alma mater that he's failed at many things in life — and he was grateful for that.
Neel Kashkari, a 1991 graduate of Western Reserve Academy, returned to the private school in Hudson today to talk to students about his three careers and ascent to be in charge of an unprecedented government program by his mid-30s.
The Stow native told the 400 Western Reserve students and limited faculty and alumni able to fit into the school's chapel that he'd given a lot of speeches since being named the interim assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial stability last October. But he said the speech to students at his alma mater was more challenging.
''You're a tougher audience in what's going to be interesting to you,'' he said.
Kashkari kept the audience engaged by giving them advice based on what he's learned in his 18 years since leaving Western Reserve and talking to them about the nation's credit crisis.
Kashkari told the students that he went to the University of Illinois for his undergraduate career because he knew it was a top engineering school.
''I'll tell you candidly, I could never have gotten into MIT or Stanford. I didn't have the grades and didn't even apply,'' he said, telling students to go to a college with the best program for the best financial deal.
By the time Kashkari was interested in graduate school, he had his heart set on Harvard.
''I got wait-listed,'' he said. ''Don't have your heart set on one school. Great things can happen if you go to your No. 2 or No. 4 university of your choice.
''Harvard is much stricter on going to all of your classes,'' he quipped.
Even getting a job at the U.S. Treasury was the result of one door closing, Kashkari said.
Kashkari was trying to get into a prestigious White House Fellowship program for mid-career people. As part of the process, his boss at Goldman Sachs got him a letter of recommendation from the company's then-Chief Executive Officer Henry Paulson.
But Kashkari got rejected from the program halfway through the process.
Two months later, Paulson got tapped to be Treasury secretary.
Kashkari said he called Paulson, asked if he remembered him, and said he wanted to go to Washington with him.
''Ten days later, I moved to Washington and was sworn in the same day as Paulson,'' he said. ‘‘The interesting lesson for me - what I thought I had my heart set on, the White House fellowship - the best thing that ever happened to me was getting rejected by that program. It pushed me to pick up the phone, call the CEO and say ‘I want to come with you.’ I came into Treasury in a much more senior role than a White House fellow. I had much more responsibility and much more access to the (Treasury) secretary. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, even though I thought I wanted something else.’’
Kashkari said he knows the American public is angry about aspects of the bailout, but said he believes the government is doing the right thing to stabilize the financial system for the benefit of all Americans.
During a question and answer period, one student asked Kashkari how he overcame his disappointments.
''I just moved on,'' he said. ''It doesn't serve any of us well to spend too much time being disappointed.''
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Posted 03:01 PM, 04/10/2009
Excuse me! The person managing the TARP funds was selected because he knew someone. Granted, his position is senior to what it would have been had he been hired through the normal process. The point is that he WASN'T hired under established procedures.
Akron, OH
Posted 03:45 PM, 04/10/2009
test
Posted 07:24 AM, 04/11/2009
The world is dependent on somebody who rode coattails to success? And he brags about his failures as a way of influencing?
