WilmerHale today announced the return of Jonathan McKernan, most recently the Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Domestic Finance and a former member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Board of Directors, as a partner in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. McKernan rejoins WilmerHale after nearly a decade in senior government roles at Treasury, the FDIC, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Capitol Hill.
“Jonathan’s return further strengthens a financial institutions practice that has long been at the forefront of the most consequential regulatory issues facing the industry,” said Anjan Sahni, WilmerHale’s managing partner. “His experience across private practice, the executive branch, independent regulatory agencies and Capitol Hill gives him a rare perspective on how financial policy is developed and implemented and how best to engage the people who make that policy.”
As Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, McKernan led more than 500 Treasury personnel working on more than 80 initiatives spanning financial institutions, financial markets, financial stability, federal finance, housing finance, artificial intelligence, digital assets and private credit. He spearheaded the Secretary’s interagency coordination of financial regulatory reforms and helped formulate policy involving bank capital, liquidity, supervision and anti-money laundering regulation.
McKernan previously served as one of President Biden’s appointees to the FDIC Board of Directors from 2023 to 2025. At the FDIC, he participated in the agency’s response to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank and worked on issues including bank capital, merger policy, resolution planning, corporate governance and deposit insurance. He also co-chaired the Board committee overseeing an independent investigation into workplace misconduct at the agency, and chaired the FDIC’s enforcement committee.
Earlier in his government career, McKernan was counsel to Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey, focusing on housing finance, capital markets and digital assets. Before that, as senior counsel for policy in the FHFA’s Office of the Director, he played a central role in developing GSEs’ regulatory capital framework and coordinating the agency’s efforts to end the GSEs’ conservatorships. During an earlier stint at Treasury, he was the lead author of the department’s 2019 housing reform plan. He started in government as a senior financial policy advisor to Senator Bob Corker.
“Jonathan brings an exceptional understanding of both the regulatory framework governing financial institutions and the practical considerations that drive decision-making in Washington,” said Franca Harris Gutierrez, chair of WilmerHale’s Financial Institutions Practice. “I know from working closely with Jonathan during his earlier time at the firm that he is an outstanding lawyer and colleague. He combines a policymaker’s understanding of why rules are written with a practitioner’s sense of what they mean for a client’s business..”
At WilmerHale, McKernan will advise financial institutions and other market participants on complex regulatory, supervisory and policy matters. His experience includes bank capital and liquidity, bank resolution, licensing and chartering, supervision, enforcement, housing finance, digital assets and fintech, as well as emerging regulatory issues involving artificial intelligence and private credit.
“I’m thrilled to return to WilmerHale at a time of significant change across the financial services industry,” said McKernan. “The firm combines extraordinary regulatory depth with market-leading litigation, enforcement, transactional and public policy capabilities. I look forward to working again with Franca Harris Gutierrez and my other colleagues to help clients navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead.”
Before entering government, McKernan spent more than nine years in private practice, most recently as a senior associate and then counsel in WilmerHale’s Financial Institutions Group. His practice included counseling domestic and foreign banking organizations on regulatory matters, representing financial institutions in enforcement matters and conducting internal reviews of compliance practices. He earned his JD, with high honors, from Duke University School of Law and his BA and MA in economics from the University of Tennessee, where graduated first in his undergraduate class.