WASHINGTON - Turns out rescuing the economy will take a rocket scientist.
That's what the man picked Monday to engineer the largest financial bailout in U.S. history did before shifting to the world of finance.
Neel Kashkari, who worked closely with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson at Goldman Sachs, followed him to the Treasury in July 2006 and has served as one of his key advisers -- handling a number of tough assignments.
Kashkari, an Indian-American who was born in Ohio, is one more example of how Paulson has drawn on former executives at Goldman to staff the Treasury. Paulson also leans heavily on former Goldman Sachs executives Dan Jester, a financial institutions banker, and Steve Shafran, who focused on corporate restructuring while at Goldman.
Officials said Paulson was particularly impressed with Kashkari's critical help in the creation of the HOPE Now program, an October 2007 Treasury initiative to cajole private mortgage companies into stemming a tidal wave of foreclosures by getting faltering borrowers into more-affordable mortgages.
Kashkari, 35, earned two degrees in engineering and worked in research and development for TRW Inc., which is now part of defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., developing technology for NASA space science missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the replacement program for the Hubble telescope.
After deciding to switch to finance, he got a master's degree in business administration and joined Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
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