Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh departs from the East Room of the White House after being sworn in on May 22, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | AFP | Getty Images
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has hired two conservative economic policy researchers to work with him at the central bank, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
The researchers are Paul Winfrey, author of the chapter on the Federal Reserve in the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025, and Daniel Heil, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, the institute’s think tank before Warsh joined the Fed.
The two are “serving as temporary contractors, assisting Mr. Warsh with policy analysis and planning special projects in areas in which they have collaborated for many years,” a source said. Mr. Warsh has not yet made any other full-time hires, the person said.
Warsh’s personnel decisions will come under close scrutiny. His extensive network of advisers includes many notable figures, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, investor Stanley Druckenmiller, and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, all of whom attended his swearing-in ceremony at the White House last month.
But Mr. Warsh appears to have relatively few aides with experience working at the Fed or other major central banks. Warsh is a self-described insider-turned-critic after serving on the Fed’s board during the 2007-2008 financial crisis under Chairman Ben Bernanke.
During his job search, Mr. Warsh pledged “systemic change” at the Fed, telling an interviewer in 2025 that to do so he would have to “break the brains out” of the central bank.
Mr. Warsh has softened his comments about Fed staff in recent days. “Our goal now is to create an environment where talented people can do the best work of their lives,” Warsh said at the swearing-in ceremony.
Winfrey served on the Domestic Policy Council during the first Trump administration and recently founded the Center for Economic Policy Innovation, a pro-Trump think tank.
His chapter in “Project 2025” discusses a wide range of conservative ideas for Fed reform, some of which go beyond what Warsh discussed. Among the ideas Winfrey considered was ending the Fed’s so-called dual mandate, a mandate from Congress to set interest rates with consideration for maximizing employment and price stability. The Fed should instead focus on “protecting the dollar and controlling inflation,” Winfrey wrote.
During his swearing-in ceremony, Warsh spoke positively about supporting both sides of the dual mandate.
The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the matter. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the hire.
