Wellesley, Mass., Investment Executive Heads for Federal Pension Insurer Post.

Byline: Beth Healy

Nov. 30--Three weeks after declining the top job at the state Department of Revenue, Steven A. Kandarian is quitting his Wellesley investment firm for a post in Washington, running the federal insurer that takes over pension plans of bankrupt companies.

Kandarian, 49, yesterday was named executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the US Department of Labor announced. An active Republican supporter with contacts in the Bush administration, Kandarian turned down Governor Jane M. Swift's recent offer for a chance at the national stage.

"I would have been honored to have served Governor Swift as her commissioner of the Department of Revenue, had this opportunity not been presented to me," Kandarian said.

He takes over the pension agency at a challenging time, with the economy in a recession and some major companies having already declared bankruptcy, including Polaroid Corp. and Bradlees Stores Inc. The group insures 38,000 traditional pension plans, which are funded by employers.

Kandarian succeeds David Strauss, a former aide to Al Gore, who served through last year. John Seal, a senior manager at the agency, has been acting director this year. The post has been something of a political reward since the agency's start in 1974; the first Clinton administration appointee was Martin Slate, a classmate of Hillary Rodham Clinton at Yale Law School. James B. Lockhart III, an appointee of the first President Bush, was a friend of his son, George W. Bush.

It's not the sexiest appointment in Washington, but it comes with responsibility for hundreds of millions of dollars in pension benefits -- and occasional controversy. The agency nearly went broke in the late 1980s. Then came the infamous ...