The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced that MBA alumnus Neel Kashkari, Candidate for Governor of California, will be the featured speaker at the School’s 2014 graduation ceremony for the MBA Program for Executives at Wharton, San Francisco.
Kashkari received his MBA from the Wharton School in 2002. The U.S. Senate appointed Kashkari to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in 2008. In this position, he oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a program that was created to address the financial crisis that the United States was facing at that time. Kashkari received the Alexander Hamilton Award, the U.S. Treasury Department’s highest honor, for his efforts.
“Having worked in leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, Neel Kashkari’s experiences are sure to be instructive to our graduates,” said Wharton Dean Thomas S. Robertson.
Kashkari began his career in public service in 2006. He led the Treasury Department’s work with non-profit organizations, congressional leaders and financial institutions to help distressed homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures. During the financial crisis of 2008, Mr. Kashkari negotiated with congressional leaders to write and pass landmark legislation to prevent economic collapse.
Kashkari left the Treasury Department in May 2009 to join PIMCO, a global investment management firm based in California.
On Jan. 21, 2014, he announced his candidacy for governor of California. Kashkari is running for governor with a platform focused on creating jobs and to see to it that every California student gets a high-quality education.
Kashkari earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Engineering from the University of Illinois. The ceremony will take place May 4, 2014 at Nourse Theatre in San Francisco.