About PBGC

Joshua Gotbaum is Director of the PBGC, responsible for the agency's management, personnel, organization, budget and investments.

Appointed Director by President Obama in July 2010, Mr. Gotbaum has for three decades helped manage and advise public, private, and nonprofit institutions. From 2003 - 2005, he led and managed the successful reorganization of Hawaiian Airlines as its Chapter 11 trustee. When it emerged from Chapter 11, Hawaiian's creditors were repaid in full, most of its employees received raises, and its defined benefit pension plan remained in place. In 2001 - 2002, 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 people and businesses affected by the attacks.

For more than a decade, Mr. Gotbaum was an investment banker with Lazard in New York and London. He advised businesses, unions and governments on a diverse range of mergers, acquisitions and restructurings, in steel, transportation, and other industries. Most recently, he has been an operating partner at Blue Wolf Capital, helping investors acquire, restructure, and manage businesses.

Mr. Gotbaum also has extensive experience in government. During the Clinton administration, he was confirmed by the Senate three times, and served as 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 administration of President Carter, he served on the White House staff and in the Department of Energy.

Mr. Gotbaum holds degrees from Stanford, Harvard Law School, and from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He is married to Joyce Thornhill, a former banker, and is the father of 3 teenagers. In his spare time, he sings.