In June 2007, following the resignation of the previous COO, the Department of Education assigned Lawrence Warder, its Chief Financial Officer, the additional duty of Acting Chief Operating Officer of Student Financial Aid. 

Warder, from   Akron, Ohio, received a B.S in mathematics from the University of Akron and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Kent State University. He had a 33-year accounting and management career, from 1969 to 2002, with Deloitte and Touche, one of the leading accounting/auditing firms in the world.  Warder became a partner in 1977, Director of Southwest Operations from Dallas in 1981, Director of Northeast Operations from New York in 1992, Operating Director of the Deloitte global consulting subsidiary in 1996, moved to London to run European operations in 1998, and returned to New York as global director of operations in 2001.  He served on the Board of Directors of both Deloitte & Touche U.S. and Global Deloitte Consulting.

After retiring to Austin, Texas, Warder worked with the a private foundation and the Austin School District to increase access to Advance Placement classes, and was an unpaid consultant to the University of Texas  to improve their internal audit and compliance system.  President Bush nominated Warder as the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Education in April, 2006, and the Senate confirmed him in July, 2006.