5 things to know about Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh

President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh on Friday to be the next Fed chair, indicating a possible shift the direction of U.S. monetary policy.

If confirmed by the Senate, Warsh, 55, will replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell once his term is up in May, and oversee a 12-member Federal Open Market Committee that has been divided about the pace of interest rate cuts.

Warsh has aligned with Trump in urging lower interest rates and criticizing the Fed.

"I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best," Trump wrote in a social media post." On top of everything else, he is 'central casting,' and he will never let you down."

Here are five things to know about the man who could soon run the world’s most powerful central bank.

He’s a veteran of the 2008 financial crisis

Warsh served on the Fed’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, meaning he was at the center of decision-making during the global financial crisis. He worked closely with then-chair Ben Bernanke as the Fed rolled out emergency lending programs and unconventional policies like quantitative easing (where a central bank purchases government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to stimulate economic activity). He also helped broker the sale of Bear Sterns to JPMorgan $JPM Chase in the early days of the meltdown.

Supporters say that experience gives him rare crisis credibility. Critics argue it also ties him to Wall Street-friendly decisions — the decisions that fueled public backlash after the bailout era.

A longtime Fed critic — from the inside and out

Since leaving the Fed, Warsh has become one of its most prominent internal critics. "Inflation is a choice, and the Fed’s track record under Chairman Jerome Powell is one of unwise choices," Warsh wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in November.

He has repeatedly argued that the central bank’s large balance sheet is a sign of institutional overreach and has called for shrinking it more aggressively. He’s also said the Fed has strayed beyond its core mission by wading into “political issues like climate change."

He’s aligned with Trump on cutting rates (for now)

Warsh has recently echoed Trump’s calls for lower interest rates, a key reason he emerged as the president’s pick. That’s a shift from his reputation as a so-called inflation hawk earlier in his career, when he warned about inflation risks and opposed prolonged stimulus. Markets are watching closely to see whether Warsh would prioritize rapid rate cuts to support growth — or revert to a tougher stance if inflation flares up again.

Deep Wall Street and Washington ties

Before and after his Fed tenure, Warsh has cultivated close ties with the Republican establishment. He joined the Bush administration as an economic adviser in 2002. Later on, then-President George W. Bush nominated him to be a Fed governor four years later, serving as the central bank's chief liaison to Wall Street from 2006 to 2011.

He's also well-connected among global financiers, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley $MS and now holds a senior role at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. He is married to Jane Lauder, the granddaughter of the cosmetics tycoon Estée Lauder and daughter of billionaire Ronald Lauder, who has business interests in Greenland and encouraged Trump to attempt to acquire the territory.

These connections are seen as both an asset and a liability. Warsh is viewed by markets as a stabilizing, experienced figure in part because of his Wall Street background, while critics worry that his history as a Wall Street insider and crisis-era liaison raises questions about independence and influence as Trump seeks greater sway over the Fed

His confirmation could test Fed independence

Warsh’s nomination comes amid heightened political pressure on the Fed and ongoing controversy surrounding current chair Powell. Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns that Trump is trying to exert greater control over interest-rate policy. Warsh has called for a new “accord” between the Treasury and the Fed on managing the balance sheet, by "revisiting" a 1951 framework that separated federal debt management from monetary policy, a proposal Reuters says would reshape how the two institutions coordinate, and the one that some economists warn could blur the line between fiscal and monetary policy, the Financial Times reports.

If confirmed, Warsh would inherit a delicate balancing act: lowering rates without reigniting inflation, shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet without destabilizing markets, and convincing investors that the central bank still operates at arm’s length from the White House.