[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Ruth Porat, Morgan Stanley's CFO, is President Obama's likely choice to serve as Deputy Treasury Secretary, the second highest ranking in the Treasury.  Jack Lew is the President's choice for Treasury Secretary.

By selecting Ms. Porat, the President not only adds significant business and financial expertise to the Treasury Department, but he diversifies his team of advisers that currently is dominated by men.

A Treasure of Experience.   For Ms. Porat, this would be a sort of second tour of duty with the Treasury Department.  In September of 2008, during the financial crisis, when she was at Morgan Stanley, then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson brought the firm in to review the finances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Ms. Porat led a 39-person team from the investment bank with Robert Scully, an adviser to then-Morgan Stanley CEO and Chairman John Mack.

As deputy Treasury secretary, Ruth Porat would be a point of contact between the administration and the financial services industry as Obama presses Congress to raise the government’s $16.4 trillion debt ceiling in the coming weeks.  Until the President chooses a replacement, current deputy secretary Neal Wolin is staying in the role for a transition period.

For further details, go to [Bloomberg, 1/14/13].