The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has named Mark Van Der Weide as its next general counsel. Van Der Weide, who will start later in the summer, replaces veteran Scott Alvarez, who announced his retirement in February after 36 years at the Fed, the last 12-and-a-half as GC.
A statement from the board said Van Der Weide was chosen for his exceptional skills and experience after the Fed considered other internal and external candidates.
Van Der Weide joined the Fed's legal division in Washington, D.C., in 1998 and most recently served as deputy director of the division of supervision and regulation. His role as deputy director was to advise the division director and board members on financial regulatory policy issues.
Finance policy is an area of expertise for Van Der Weide. In 2009 and 2010, he was detailed to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he worked on financial reform legislation. Prior to joining the Fed, he worked two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
Van Der Weide will take over from Alvarez, 62, who joined the Fed in 1981, after graduating with a degree in economics from Princeton University and a law degree from Georgetown. Alvarez became the Fed s assistant GC in 1989 and has been the general counsel since 2004.
Alvarez wielded so much influence at the Fed that The New York Times Jesse Eisinger referred to him as the man they call the eighth governor and the power behind the throne.
Alvarez played a key role in the bank bailouts during the financial crisis of 2008, as well as in how the Dodd-Frank Act was implemented.
He had to defend his role in the bailouts both before congressional hearings and during a suit filed by the ex-chief executive of American International Group Inc. against the federal government.
The retirement of Alvarez may leave a temporary vacuum of institutional legal knowledge in the Federal Reserve System. One year ago, his colleague, Thomas Baxter Jr., retired as general counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York after 36 years with the Fed.
Van Der Weide has some big financial shoes to fill. Together Baxter and Alvarez helped the banking system through its toughest times for more than three decades, from the Iran hostage crisis and seizure of Iranian assets in 1979, to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, to the economic collapse of 2008.