Robert King Steel (born August 3, 1951) is an American businessman, financier and government official who has served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding in the administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance of the United States Treasury, chief executive officer of Wachovia Corporation and vice chairman of Goldman Sachs. He has also served as chairman of the board of trustees at Duke University and the Aspen Institute. In May 2014, he was tapped to succeed Joseph R. Perella as chief executive officer of Perella Weinberg Partners, a private investment banking and asset management firm.
Personal life The second of three boys, Steel grew up in Durham, North Carolina, attending public schools near Duke University, his future college. He was a Boy Scout and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. His late father, Charles Steel, III, was a life insurance agent and his mother, Elizabeth, was a homemaker.
He received his undergraduate degree from Duke in 1973, majoring in history and political science. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago in 1984.Duke University, Office of News and Communications, May 14, 2005
Steel lives in New York, NY; he is married to Gillian Steel and they have three daughters. He enjoys hiking, skiing and golfing.RobertKSteel.com
Business career Goldman Sachs, 1976–2004
Steel spent nearly 30 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to vice chair of the firm. He joined the Chicago office in 1976 and served as that office's co-head of institutional sales. In 1987, he transferred to London, where he founded the Equity Capital Markets Group for Europe. At the time, Europe was privatizing major state-owned enterprises, like telecom, utility and energy interests, to transition to more market-driven economies. Steel was extensively involved in the privatization and capital-raising efforts for European corporations and governments. In 1988, he became partner in the firm. He later became head of Goldman Sachs Equities for Europe. In 1994, he relocated to New York and served as co-head of the Goldman Sachs Equities Division from 1996 to 2002 until his appointment as a vice chair of the firm. Upon his retirement from Goldman Sachs on February 1, 2004, he became advisory director and then senior director in December 2004.
Barclays Bank, 2005–06
From June 1, 2005, to October 11, 2006, Steel served on the board of directors of Barclays Plc.Barclays Board Appointments, June 1, 2005 In 2005 he helped settle a conflict between Barclays' commercial and investment divisions over who would serve a newly purchased South African bank. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson later said of Steel: "He's very good at smoothing over conflicts; and when there's tensions, bringing the temperature down."The Washington Post, February 11, 2008
Wachovia/Wells Fargo, 2008–2010 On July 9, 2008, Steel was named president and CEO of Wachovia. Although Steel's predecessor, G. Kennedy Thompson had been criticized for exposing the firm to high-risk mortgages,The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Philanthropy Careers, May 28, 2009 Steel hoped to put the company on firm footing until it failed in the Fall 2008 crisis. He bought one million shares of Wachovia stock on the open market and bought a house in Charlotte.Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2008 He also turned down a bonus he was due to receive.Thinkprogress.org blog, December 10, 2008
Steel was adamant that Wachovia would stay independent. However, by September 2008, market conditions had deteriorated severely. On September 26, Wachovia lost almost one percent of its deposits, leading regulators to force Wachovia to put itself up for sale.Rothacker, Rick. $5 billion withdrawn in one day in silent run . The Charlotte Observer, October 11, 2008 After an initial deal with Citigroup for $1/share,Bloomberg.com, September 29, 2008 Steel and the Wachovia board accepted an offer to merge with Wells Fargo for $7/share.Streetinsider.com, October 3, 2008 (Wells Fargo would be purchasing 100% of Wachovia; the Citi deal would have resulted in Wachovia shedding its commercial banking arm while retaining Wachovia Securities and Evergreen Investments.Affidavit of Robert K. Steel October 5, 2008 This merger was more than the 100th merger in Wachovia's history.Tradingmarkets.com, November 20, 2008 The arrangement made Wells Fargo the second-largest retail brokerage in the United States.
In January 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating claims Steel made about the future of the bank before it started talks about a potential merger.
Following the merger, Steel was invited to join the board of Wells Fargo and served on the firm's credit and finance committees.Wells Fargo website, Board of Directors In 2010, upon being appointed Deputy Mayor for Economic Development of New York City, Steel resigned his seat on the Wells Fargo board.Business Week, July 2, 2010
Perella Weinberg Partners, 2014-present On July 7, 2014, Steel was named CEO of Perella Weinberg Partners. Perella Weinberg is an independent, privately owned, global financial services firm providing corporate advisory and asset management services to clients around the world. Founded in 2006, the firm has since grown to more than 400 employees, and has worked on transactions like NYSE Euronext's sale to IntercontinentalExchange and J. Crew's leveraged buyout by TPG. Its asset management arm oversees $11.5 billion in capital.
Government service Mayor's Office, New York City On June 22, 2010, Steel was appointed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to serve as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. Steel served as New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development from August 2010 to December 2013, ending his service at the conclusion of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's third term in office.
As Deputy Mayor, Steel was responsible for overseeing more than 10 mayoral agencies with collective annual operating budgets of $5B and more than 20,000 employees, including the New York City Economic Development Corporation; the New York City Housing Authority; NYC & Company; the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission; and the city's Departments of City Planning, Transportation, Finance, Housing Preservation and Development, and Small Business Services. As Deputy Mayor, he served as Chairman of Brooklyn Bridge Park and Vice Chairman of Hudson River Park.
During Steel's tenure as Deputy Mayor, New York City's economy significantly outperformed the national economy, recovering more than 300% of the jobs it lost from the beginning of the recession compared to the country as a whole. Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Steel left office with New York City enjoying record levels of total jobs (4m), private sector jobs (3.5m), tourist visitors (54.3m), and total population (8.4m).
Steel oversaw a number of critical projects, most notably the Applied Sciences initiative that will result in four new engineering and applied sciences campuses throughout New York built by Cornell Tech, New York University, Columbia University, and Carnegie Mellon. Together, these institutions will double the number of engineering faculty and graduate students in New York City over the next decade. Steel worked with the New York City Department of Education and the private sector to open the Academy for Software Engineering, a first of its kind public high school focused on the skills most in demand in the information and innovation economy, and to expand technology and coding curriculum throughout New York City's public middle schools and high schools.
Steel's term also saw the advancement of a range of large-scale development projects in all five boroughs, including the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into the world's largest ice center; the proposed development of the Staten Island Wheel on Staten Island; the redevelopment of Willets Point and Hallets Point in Queens; the expansion of the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District; and the completion of the long-stalled Seward Park Urban Renewal Area on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Steel also led Mayor Bloomberg's comprehensive redevelopment of the city's 520 miles of waterfront as well as the city's major development projects on the east side of the East River in Brooklyn (including the redevelopment of the Domino Sugar Factory, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Watchtower complex, Greenpoint, Hunters Point South and Hallets Point in Queens), the Far West Side of Manhattan and Lower Manhattan at the World Trade Center site, where he mediated negotiations to restart construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2012.
Steel also oversaw a significant expansion of transportation in New York City, including Citi Bike, boro taxis, the East River Ferry, five Select Bus Service bus rapid transit lines, and the 7 Subway Extension that extended the New York City Subway to 34th Street–Hudson Yards station.
Steel led several major initiatives to improve the governance and operations of the New York City Housing Authority, the largest Public Housing Authority in the country. In particular, Steel successfully pushed for state legislation to restructure NYCHA's board of directors and to advance a controversial plan to develop underutilized NYCHA land to generate proceeds needed to fund critical housing repairs.
U.S. Treasury, 2006–08 Steel was appointed Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the United States Department of the Treasury on October 10, 2006, and served until July 9, 2008. He was the principal adviser to the secretary on matters of domestic finance and led the department's activities regarding the U.S. financial system, fiscal policy and operations, governmental assets and liabilities, and related economic matters.
In March 2007, Steel testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on reform of the housing Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He said that the regulatory system for these institutions "neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity, and importance of these enterprises." He also testified that if GSEs are able to accomplish their mission, the risks must be managed and supervised. "Otherwise there may be a threat to their solvency, and importantly to the stability of other financial institutions and the strength of our economy," he said.US Department of the Treasury Press Room, March 15, 2007 Steel also oversaw the creation of the Blueprint on Financial Services Regulation as part of an initiative to increase America's capital market competitiveness.US Department of the Treasury Press Room, February 26, 2007
As economic conditions worsened in 2007 and 2008, Steel helped design the federal government's response. In April 2008, Steel testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee regarding the rescue of Bear Stearns. Steel explained that although the Treasury had believed that the rescue of Bear Stearns was necessary, it had encouraged a low sale price so as not to encourage risky behavior by other large institutions.The New York Times April 4, 2008
Academic and non-profit work Kennedy School, 2004–06
From February 2004 to September 2006, Steel was a senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He co-taught "Current Issues in U.S. Financial Markets Regulation."Washington Wire, September 6, 2006 He received an award from the university president for excellence in teaching. He also co-authored an op-ed in The Washington Post entitled "For Retirees, A Day of Reckoning."
SeaChange Capital Partners, 2004–06