Gotbaum Set to Begin PBGC Director Confirmation Process

If confirmed, Gotbaum, an operating partner at the private equity firm Blue Wolf Capital, will take over the PBGC at an important time in the agency’s history. (see White House Expects to Name New PBGC Head).

The PBGC, which insures private-sector pensions, has been scrambling in recent months to keep up with the number of defined benefit plans at firms continuing to struggle with the down economy including many that have sold off their assets as part of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court case without providing for their pension plan obligations (see PBGC Takes Chicago Clothing Manufacturer’s Plan). 

Gotbaum would replace former director Charles E.F. Millard who stepped down with the White House administration change in January 2009.

From 2003 – 2005, Gotbaum led and managed the successful reorganization of Hawaiian Airlines as its Chapter 11 Trustee.  In 2001, he was the first CEO of The September 11th Fund, a charity with over $500 million in assets whose grants helped more than 100,000 affected by the attacks. 

During the Clinton Administration,. Gotbaum was Executive Associate Director and Controller in the Office of Management and Budget; Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Economic Policy; and Assistant Secretary of Defense.  During the Carter administration, he served on the White House staff and in the Department of Energy. 

Gotbaum holds a B.A. from Stanford, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.P.P. from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

The Gotbaum hearing, before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.