2008, he was the principal adviser to
Secretary Henry Paulson on matters of domestic finance and led the
department's activities regarding the domestic financial system, fiscal
policy and operations, and governmental assets and liabilities.
During this period, the U.S. economy experienced unprecedented
challenges, and Steel was a key architect of the government’s response
to the crises in the credit and mortgage markets. He regularly
testified before House and Senate Committees regarding reform at Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, foreclosure prevention, and (along with Federal
Reserve Chair Bernanke, SEC Chair
Cox, and then-Federal Reserve of New York president Geithner) the rescue
of Bear Stearns. Steel also oversaw the creation of Treasury’s
“Blueprint for a Modernized Regulatory Structure,” a watershed report
that laid out a model for the future of financial regulation. In 2008,
Steel was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest honor given
to a Treasury Department official.
Before
joining Treasury, Steel served as a senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University. Steel co-taught a lecture
and seminar course on U.S. Financial Markets Regulation.
Before
2004, Steel spent almost 30 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to vice chair
of the firm. In 1976, he joined the Chicago office of Goldman Sachs and
in 1984 was promoted to co-head of Chicago institutional equity sales.
In 1987, he founded the firm’s Equity Capital Markets group in London,
and became a trusted advisor to European governments and corporations
trying to privatize major state-owned enterprises. By 1988, Steel had
become a Goldman Sachs partner, and in 1990, head of Equities in
Europe. In 1996, Steel was named co-head of Equities firm-wide, and in
2002, vice chair. In that role, Steel steered firm strategy, oversaw
training and diversity initiatives, and served as the firm’s
point-person with regulators and key clients.
Steel
currently chairs the board of the Aspen Institute, a non-profit
organization dedicated to fostering values-based leadership. He
recently served as chair of the board of Duke University. Steel has
also chaired the board of the After-School Corporation; and co-founded
SeaChange Capital Partners, an organization that raises growth capital
for entrepreneurial nonprofits.
Steel
is the co-author of editorials published in The Washington Post
and The Financial Times. He received his undergraduate degree
from Duke and his MBA from the University of Chicago. He lives in
Connecticut with his wife and three daughters.
