Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Joshua Gotbaum, an investment banker and former official in the Bill Clinton administration, was tapped by President Barack Obama to head the deficit-ridden Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Obama plans to nominate Gotbaum, an operating partner at Blue Wolf Capital Management LLC who spent more than 10 years at Lazard Freres in New York and London, for the pension agency post, the White House said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Blue Wolf is a New York-based private equity firm.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., created by Congress in 1974, backs up the pensions of more than 44 million Americans. The agency reported in May a deficit of $33.5 billion, triple that of six months earlier, as it took over pension plans of companies that failed or faltered in the recession.

Gotbaum was the first head of the September 11th Fund, whose grants helped people affected by the terrorist attacks, according to the White House statement. From 2003 to 2005, he led the bankruptcy reorganization of Hawaiian Holdings Inc., the parent of Hawaiian Airlines, as its court-appointed trustee.

He served in the Clinton administration as controller of the Office of Management and Budget, assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy and assistant secretary of Defense, the White House said yesterday.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress to revamp the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s governance after its inspector general found in May that its former director, Charles E.F. Millard, had inappropriate communications with eight of 16 Wall Street firms that bid last year to manage $2.5 billion in assets. The resulting contracts were canceled in July.

Stanley Brand, Millard’s attorney, said in July that Millard “sought advice from top professionals in a responsible and legal manner.”

The pension corporation’s director reports to a board consisting of the secretaries of Labor, Commerce and Treasury.

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Last Updated: November 10, 2009 00:00 EST