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Tom Steyer

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Tom Steyer
Born1957
New York, New York USA
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale
Stanford
Occupation(s)-Founder, Co-Senior Managing Partner of Farallon Capital Management
-Co-Founder of OneCalifornia Bank
-Partner Hellman & Friedman
-Philanthropist
-Environmentalist
SpouseKat Taylor
Children4
Websitehttp://www.faralloncapital.com/farallon/

Thomas "Tom" Fahr Steyer (b.1957) is an American asset manager, philanthropist and environmentalist.[2]

He is the founder and Co-Senior Managing Partner of Farallon Capital Management, LLC and the co-founder of the OneCalifornia Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank.[3] Steyer is responsible for funding the creation of the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford University, part of the Precourt Institute of Energy.[4]

Since 1986, Steyer has been a partner and member of the Executive Committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based $8 billion private equity firm. Farallon Capital Management, LLC, manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high net worth individuals. The firm’s institutional investors are primarily college endowments and foundations.[5][6]

In 2010, Steyer and his wife, along with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, signed the Giving Pledge to donate half their fortune to charity.[7] Steyer has recently agreed to build the Center for the Next Generation, a non-profit that intends to tackle children's issues and the environment.[8]

Steyer serves on the Board of Trustees at Stanford University.[9]

Early life and education

Steyer was born in New York City in 1957, the son of Roy H. Steyer, a partner in the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, and Marnie Speyer, a teacher of remedial reading at the Brooklyn House of Detention.[10] He attended Philips Exeter Academy and graduated from Yale University, Summa Cum Laude in Economics and Political Science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Wolf's Head Society. He was captain of the Yale soccer team. Steyer received his MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.[11]

Early career

Prior to joining Hellman & Friedman, Steyer worked at Goldman Sachs from 1983-1985 as an associate in the risk arbitrage department under Robert Rubin. He began his professional career at Morgan Stanley in 1979.[12]

Farallon Capital Management

Steyer founded Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. in January 1986.[13] Farallon employs approximately 165 people in eight offices globally and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.[14] Farallon is considered a pioneer in the practice of “absolute return” investing, a strategy that aims to produce a positive absolute return regardless of the directions of financial markets.[15] To that end, Farallon makes credit investments, value investments, merger arbitrage, real estate-related investments and direct investments. It also invests in public and private debt and equity securities, and direct investments in private companies and real estate.[16]

Philanthropy

"Giving Pledge"

In August 2010, Steyer and his wife joined Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and 37 other American billionaires in pledging to give away at least half their fortunes to worthwhile causes.[17] Business people “are pretty widely mistrusted and seen as overwhelmingly self-interested,” Steyer said. “The point is that business people are not just laboring for themselves. They have bigger responsibilities and belong to a wider community.”[18]

Community development

Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, founded OneCalifornia Bank, a community development bank.[19] The bank functions as a regulated financial institution, insured and for-profit just like other banks, but provides commercial banking services to underserved Bay Area businesses, nonprofits and individuals. Steyer and Taylor put up $22.5 million to start the bank and create the OneCalifornia Foundation to engage in charitable and educational activities, provide lending support, investments and other services for disadvantaged communities and community service organizations in California. Steyer and Taylor maintain mission focus and control of the bank, but take no economic benefit or repayment from their investment as they donated 100% of their economic interest in OneCalifornia Bank to OneCalifornia Foundation.[20][21] In August 2010, the University of San Francisco awarded OneCalifornia Bank and Foundation the 2010 University of San Francisco California Prize for Service and the Common Good.[22]

TomKat Ranch

The couple created the TomKat Ranch in Pescadero, California. The ranch's philanthropic endeavors include underwriting healthy food programs and co-producing an independent film titled "La Mission" starring Benjamin Bratt about San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.[23]

OneRoof

Steyer and Taylor also helped found OneRoof, a social business designed to bring technology to rural India. Over the past four years OneRoof has opened computer centers to connect poor residents of India with the information revolution.[24]

Environmentalism

In 2008, Steyer and Taylor gave $40 million to create the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford University. The center focuses on the development of affordable renewable energy technologies and promotion of public policies that make renewable energy more accessible. Projects include the creation of lighter, less toxic, and more durable batteries and an analysis of the current power grid’s ability to support future renewable energy technologies.[25][26]

Political activism

Steyer is a leading Democratic activist and fundraiser. In 1983, he worked on the Walter Mondale for President campaign.[27] He raised money for Bill Bradley in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. An early supporter of Hillary Clinton for President, Steyer became one of Barack Obama’s most prolific fundraisers. Steyer served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 2004 and 2008, and has been a member of the Hamilton Project since 2005.[28] Steyer donated $2.5 million and pledged to contribute $2.5 million more to the No on Prop. 23 campaign, the measure on the November 2010 ballot concerning California's environmental legislation, AB32. Steyer joined former Secretary of State and Republican George Shultz, to co-chair the No on Prop. 23 campaign.[29][30]

Personal life

In August 1986, he married Kathryn Ann Taylor. She is a graduate of Harvard College and earned a J.D./M.B.A. from Stanford University. The Rev. Richard Thayer, a Presbyterian minister, and Rabbi Charles Familant performed the ceremony.[31] Steyer and his wife have four children.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] Forbes.com. Retrieved July 2010.
  2. ^ Lashinsky, Adam (2008-09-17). "California's hedge fund king". Fortune. Retrieved 2010-07-23. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Lashinsky, p3
  4. ^ Ritch, Emma. "Stanford launches $100M energy research institute". Cleantech Group. Retrieved 2010-07-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Lashinsky, p2
  6. ^ http://www.hf.com/team/Team.aspx?membercode=tSteyer
  7. ^ "40 billionaires pledge to give away half of wealth". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2010-08-05. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ New York Times, September 16, 2011, Business Day section, pg. B1
  9. ^ "University Governance". Stanford University. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  10. ^ New York Times: "Kathryn Taylor Weds T.F. Steyer" August 17, 1986
  11. ^ "The World's Billionaires". Forbes. Retrieved 2010-07-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ Lashinsky, p2
  13. ^ http://www.faralloncapital.com/farallon/principals_thomas_steyer.htm
  14. ^ http://www.faralloncapital.com/farallon/office_locations.htm
  15. ^ Lashinsky, p1
  16. ^ http://www.faralloncapital.com/farallon/strategies.htm
  17. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hQfKHf4dMeyXBE7Q7BXtSaUst0fQD9HCRI7G1
  18. ^ http://www.joplinglobe.com/dailybusiness/x1936220446/Buffett-Gates-persuade-38-billionaires-to-donate-half-of-wealth
  19. ^ http://www.onecalif.com/biotsteyer.aspx
  20. ^ Sharma-Sindhar, Priyanka. "Oakland Fund Gets the Governor's Attention". The Oakbook. Retrieved 2010-07-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  21. ^ Stuhldreher, Anne (2009-04-08). "Tradtional lending goes mainstream". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-07-23. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/university-of-san-francisco-announces-2010-recipient-of-statewide-prize-99931719.html
  23. ^ Trevenon, Stacy. "Film brings 'brown pride' to Pescadero". Half Moon Bay Review. Retrieved 2010-09-10. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  24. ^ http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?aid=4443&func=display&module=articles&ptid=9
  25. ^ Ritch, p1
  26. ^ "Stanford starts new, $100 million energy institute". Greenbang. Retrieved 2010-07-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  27. ^ http://www.onecalif.com/biotsteyer.aspx
  28. ^ Lashinsky, p2
  29. ^ Maviglio, Steven. "No on Prop 23 Campaign Gets Big Backing from Major Democratic Donor, Releases Report on Valero's $9 Billion Export of California Energy Dollars". The California Majority Report. Retrieved 2010-07-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  30. ^ NAGOURNEY, ADAM. "California Braces for Showdown on Emissions". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-07-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  31. ^ New York Times: "Kathryn Taylor Weds T.F. Steyer" August 17, 1986
  32. ^ Forbes, p1

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