SiliconBeat

So the guy tapped by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to oversee — at least for now — the United States’ $700 billion effort to buy “distressed assets”, is no stranger to the Bay Area.  He’s Neel Kashkari (pictured), an Indian American originally from Ohio who was, before becoming a Treasury assistant secretary for international affairs, a vice president for Goldman Sachs in its San Francisco office, where he was in charge of its IT Security Investment Banking Business.

Kashkari also sports a shaved noggin, just like his boss, with whom he has been working throughout the current credit crisis. A blog at the Wall Street Journal presents head shots of both men with the caption “separated at birth” .

He will serve as an interim head of the Treasury’s new Office of Financial Stability, a position that would require Senate confirmation on a permanent basis, something unlikely to take place before the Nov. 4 election.

At 35, Kashkari has already packed in a lot, according to his Treasury bio.  He began his working life as an aerospace engineer with TRW after earning an undergraduate and masters degree in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, Mark Andreesen’s alma mater. Later he earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Kashkari and his wife, Minal, reportedly still own a home in California. (Might not have been a prudent time to sell in 2006 when he took his current gig at Treasury, but we imagine that the Bay Area feels more like home.)