Tom Steyer

Tom Steyer Biography

Thomas Fahr "Tom" Steyer (born 1957) is an American asset manager, philanthropist, and environmentalist. He has been active in political campaign funding.

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

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.

In 2010, Steyer and his wife, along with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, signed the Giving Pledge to donate half their fortune to charity. Steyer is on the board of Next Generation, a non-profit that intends to tackle children's issues and the environment.

Steyer serves on the Board of Trustees at Stanford University.

Early life and education

Steyer was born in New York City in 1957. His mother, Marnie (née Fahr), was a teacher of remedial reading at the Brooklyn House of Detention, and his father, Roy Henry Steyer, was a partner in the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. 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.

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.

Farallon Capital Management

Steyer founded Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. in January 1986. Farallon employs approximately 165 people in eight offices globally and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. 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. 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.

Resignation from Farallon

Steyer announced in October 2012 that he would be stepping down from his position at Farallon in order to focus on political activism, in particular on advocating for alternative energy. He cited his desire to focus on giving back "full time" and to revolve his life around service. In an interview he said, "I've tried to organize a business voice for what I call advanced energy....I think I'm going to be focused on how to, is there a way to move the needle in some way having to do with thought or policy. And I don't know what shape that's going to take."

It was reported in January 2013 that Steyer might be named as a replacement for Energy Secretary Steven Chu or that he might run for Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat in 2019. Asked whether he would accept an appointment to be Energy Secretary, Steyer said yes.

Philanthropy

"Giving Pledge"

In August 2010, Steyer and his wife joined Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and 37 other American billionaires in pledging to give away at least half their fortunes to worthwhile causes. 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."

Community development

Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, founded OneCalifornia Bank, now known as One PacificCoast Bank, a community development bank. 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 One PacificCoast 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 One PacificCoast Bank to One PacificCoast Foundation. 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.

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, La Mission, starring Benjamin Bratt, about San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.

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.

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.

Political activism

Steyer is a leading Democratic activist and fundraiser. In 1983, he worked on the Walter Mondale for President campaign. 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.

No on Prop 23

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.

Steyer was reportedly "peeved" that out-of-state activists were backing a California measure. A Manhattan native, he was convinced that passage would hurt California's environment and economy. Steyer described "stepping up" and donating $5 million - the largest sum donated - and driving to people's home to campaign. Steyer's political emergence was a success and the proposition was defeated.

DNC speech

Steyer gave a speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. He commented that the election was "a choice about whether to go backward or forward. And that choice is especially stark when it comes to energy." Steyer said that Romney would take no action to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels; rather, he said he would increase it. Steyer went on to support Obama's policies, which he described as investments to "make us energy independent and create thousands of jobs."

Prop 39

Steyer was the leading sponsor of Proposition 39 on the 2012 ballot in California. Its purpose was to close a loophole that allowed multi-state corporations to pay taxes out of state, mandating that they pay in California. Steyer contributed $21.9 million, saying that he could wait no longer for the change.

Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, said that the level of giving was unprecedented: "We've seen companies giving that much, and unions and PACs that have a lot at stake giving $10, $20 million in an election, but you didn't see that so much for individual donors." While supporters of Steyer's effort said it would "help break the partisan gridlock in Sacramento," critics objected that "the increasing involvement of rich individuals perverts the original intent of the initiatives. The passage of Prop 39 was described as "a $1 billion corporate tax increase that somehow slipped under the radar" and a huge political story that somehow went unnoticed. It was noted that the backers' strategy was to eliminate political opposition before it could materialize. Tom Steyer added $21 million into the Yes on Proposition 39 campaign, warning opponents that "it would be impossible to wage an opposition campaign on the cheap."

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. Steyer and his wife have four children. His wife is on the President's Council for the United Religions Initiative whose purpose is to "promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence, and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings."