President Donald Trump will swear in Kevin Wersch as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Friday, putting him in charge of a central bank that will have to be led by a president with very specific expectations on a tumultuous economy and interest rates.
Wersch, 56, will become the 11th Fed chair of the modern banking era and succeeds Jerome Powell, who served for eight years.
Powell, who was a major target of Trump’s ire for refusing to lower rates as quickly or as quickly as the president wanted, will continue to serve as a governor at the Fed. He is the first Fed chairman to take such a step in nearly 80 years.
Friday’s swearing-in is Warsh’s second term at the Fed. He previously served as governor from 2006 to 2011, a time when the central bank joined hands with Treasury officials to rescue the economy from the global financial crisis.
Although Warsh helped lead the Fed effort, he later criticized the central bank for keeping crisis-era policies in place and allowing itself to overstep its mandate for stable prices and low unemployment. For example, he has cited prior efforts to address climate change and social inequality as areas of mission creep, and has vowed to reduce the central bank’s footprint on markets.
Warsh won the seat after an extensive competition that began in the summer of 2025 and included 11 candidates, ranging from current and former Fed officials to leading economists and Wall Street strategists.
Powell’s tenure was marked by repeated and often personal criticism from Trump. The president demanded more aggressive action from the Fed when it came to cutting rates and accused Powell of having “Trump derangement syndrome,” even though the Fed lowered its benchmark lending rate by three-quarters of a percentage point and raised it by 4.25 basis points during one term of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Despite Trump’s calls for lower rates, markets are betting that the Fed will keep rates on hold for most, if not all, of 2026, and then possibly raise rates as early as 2027.
Powell’s performance was also marked by inflation remaining above the Fed’s 2% target for five consecutive years. Varsh has vowed he can control inflation by lowering benchmark rates.
Since leaving the Fed, Warsh has spent time in the Duquesne Family Office of Stanley Druckenmiller and as a lecturer at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution. When Trump made it clear that he was not going to re-nominate Janet Yellen, Wersh was considered a leading candidate for Fed chair, but reportedly at the urging of former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the President ultimately chose Powell.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.