# Professor Richard Sylla weighs in on Steven T. Mnuchin's appointment as Treasury Secretary

1 Faculty News December 19, 2016 ![The New York Times Logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/uat_027320.jpg?itok=W8xBr66g)>

Excerpt from [The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/business/dealbook/steven-mnuchin-trump-treasury-hedge-funds.html?_r=0) -- "'I think he would be controversial — former Treasury secretaries have been top bankers and businessmen or lawyers and they were well-recognized top leaders in their professions,' said Prof. [Richard Sylla](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/richard-sylla) at the Stern School of Business of New York University, whose research focuses on financial history and economics. 'But Mnuchin wasn’t that famous as a Goldman Sachs guy, and probably not even as a hedge fund guy, so why is he there? Well, he took the job of raising money for Trump.'"

[Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/business/dealbook/steven-mnuchin-trump-treasury-hedge-funds.html?_r=0)