Steven Rattner
Encyclopedia
Steven Lawrence Rattner (born July 5, 1952) is an American financier
who served as the lead auto advisor (popularly known as the "car czar") in the United States Treasury Department under President Barack Obama
. Prior to his government service, he was a co-founder and managing principal of the Quadrangle Group
, a global private equity firm specializing in the media and communications industries. He previously spent two decades as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers
, Morgan Stanley
, and Lazard Freres & Co., where he rose to Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Rattner began his career as a reporter for The New York Times
, principally as an economic correspondent in New York, Washington and London.
Rattner is currently chairman of Willett Advisors LLC, the investment firm that manages New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
's personal and philanthropic assets. He continues to be deeply involved in public policy matters, including as a Contributing Writer for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, as the author of a monthly column for the Financial Times
, and as the economic analyst for MSNBC's Morning Joe
.
, Rattner was raised in the suburb of Great Neck, where he attended local public schools. He received his A.B. with honors in economics from Brown University
in 1974 and was awarded the Harvey Baker Fellowship. While at Brown, he served as editor-in-chief of The Brown Daily Herald
in 1973.
. After a year, he was transferred to New York as a reporter, covering business and energy. In 1977, he was sent back to Washington, initially to cover the energy crisis. At age 27, he became The New York Times's chief Washington economic correspondent. He concluded his service to The New York Times with a stint in London as European economic correspondent.
as an associate. After Lehman was sold to American Express
in 1984, he followed several colleagues including Eric Gleacher
to Morgan Stanley
. In 1989, after Morgan Stanley had gone public, he was recruited to Lazard as a general partner and founded the firm's media and communications group. He was intimately involved in completing various deals for companies such as Viacom and Comcast and rose to Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive in 1997.
In 2000, Rattner and three Lazard partners left the firm and founded the Quadrangle Group
, which initially focused on investing a $1 billion media-focused private equity fund. Under Rattner's leadership, the firm grew to manage more than $6 billion. Among the firm's several businesses was the management of the personal and philanthropic assets of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
. While it was rumored that Rattner would join a Democratic administration, he did not do so until after the election of President Barack Obama
.
In February 2009, with both General Motors
and Chrysler
on the brink of insolvency, Rattner was appointed Counselor to the United States Secretary of the Treasury
and lead auto adviser. He quickly assembled a team that grew to 14 professionals to address this key element of the national economic crisis.
Reporting to both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers
, the head of the National Economic Council
, Rattner and his auto task force developed a plan to save both the two manufacturers and related suppliers and finance companies. The plan involved a total government investment of $82 billion in the sector, coupled with controlled bankruptcies for the two auto companies, as well as new management for both.
Rattner later wrote in his book Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Auto Rescue that the toughest decision for President Obama was whether to save Chrysler. There was no disagreement, he later wrote, about asking GM CEO Richard Wagoner to step aside.
By July 2009, both automakers had emerged from bankruptcy, had new management and were on their way to renewed profitability. At that time, Rattner left Washington and returned to private life in New York.
described his book as "unquestionably the best book so far about the Obama presidency."
He continued to speak out on auto-related matters as well as broader economic issues. Early in 2011, he began contributing a monthly column to the Financial Times on subjects ranging from the Greek crisis to the U.S. budget deficit. He also became the economic analyst for the MSNBC news show, Morning Joe. And in June 2011, he was named a contributing writer to The New York Times Op-Ed page, publishing a first column on how government policies drive up corn prices.
In November 2010, Rattner settled U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges by paying $6.2 million in disgorgement and penalties without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.
The charges of the then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo were that two dozen investment advisors including Quadrangle allegedly paid fees to the Intermediary Hank Morris and did favors for pension officials in order to enrich themselves. Both Morris and Hevesi were sentenced to prison for their conduct involving the New York State Pension Fund’s investment operations.
Rattner spoke out vigorously in his own defense, including a memorable appearance on the Charlie Rose Show. Rattner said he was never a political supporter of Cuomo and accused Cuomo of actions "close to extortion," and said Cuomo "has basically threatened me all along the way that if I don't do what he wants me to do, he will prosecute me to the ends of the earth."
On December 30, 2010, just a day before the end of Cuomo's term as Attorney General, Rattner and the New York Attorney General's office reached a settlement in which Rattner agreed to pay $10 million in restitution but no fines or penalties. In addition, he was not prohibited from continuing to insist on his innocence with respect to all charges. The non-financial terms of the settlement were the most favorable of those received by any of dozens of targets of the investigation.
, Brown University
, Brookings Institution
and the New American Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
.
Rattner is married to Maureen White, who served for five years as finance chair for the Democratic National Committee
and is now the Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Issues to the
Special Representative-Afghanistan and Pakistan for the U.S. Department of State. They have four grown children.
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
who served as the lead auto advisor (popularly known as the "car czar") in the United States Treasury Department under President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Prior to his government service, he was a co-founder and managing principal of the Quadrangle Group
Quadrangle Group
Quadrangle Group is a private investment firm focused on private equity. The firm invests in middle-market companies within the media, communications and information-based sectors....
, a global private equity firm specializing in the media and communications industries. He previously spent two decades as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
, Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
, and Lazard Freres & Co., where he rose to Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Rattner began his career as a reporter for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, principally as an economic correspondent in New York, Washington and London.
Rattner is currently chairman of Willett Advisors LLC, the investment firm that manages New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
's personal and philanthropic assets. He continues to be deeply involved in public policy matters, including as a Contributing Writer for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, as the author of a monthly column for the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, and as the economic analyst for MSNBC's Morning Joe
Morning Joe
Morning Joe is a weekday morning talk show on MSNBC, with Joe Scarborough discussing the news of the day in a panel format with co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. It was created as the replacement for Imus in the Morning, which was canceled in April 2007 after simulcasting on MSNBC since 1996...
.
Education and background
Born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Rattner was raised in the suburb of Great Neck, where he attended local public schools. He received his A.B. with honors in economics from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1974 and was awarded the Harvey Baker Fellowship. While at Brown, he served as editor-in-chief of The Brown Daily Herald
The Brown Daily Herald
The Brown Daily Herald is the student newspaper of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. It is financially and editorially independent of the University, and publishes Monday through Friday during the academic year with additional issues during commencement, summer and orientation...
in 1973.
Career in journalism
Upon graduating from Brown, Rattner was hired in Washington as news clerk to the legendary New York Times columnist James RestonJames Reston
James Barrett Reston , nicknamed "Scotty," was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid 1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with the New York Times.-Life:...
. After a year, he was transferred to New York as a reporter, covering business and energy. In 1977, he was sent back to Washington, initially to cover the energy crisis. At age 27, he became The New York Times's chief Washington economic correspondent. He concluded his service to The New York Times with a stint in London as European economic correspondent.
Career in finance
At the end of 1982, Rattner left The New York Times to join Lehman BrothersLehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
as an associate. After Lehman was sold to American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
in 1984, he followed several colleagues including Eric Gleacher
Eric Gleacher
Eric Gleacher , an American investor and financier, is the founder and chairman of Gleacher & Co. an independent investment banking firm based in New York City....
to Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
. In 1989, after Morgan Stanley had gone public, he was recruited to Lazard as a general partner and founded the firm's media and communications group. He was intimately involved in completing various deals for companies such as Viacom and Comcast and rose to Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive in 1997.
In 2000, Rattner and three Lazard partners left the firm and founded the Quadrangle Group
Quadrangle Group
Quadrangle Group is a private investment firm focused on private equity. The firm invests in middle-market companies within the media, communications and information-based sectors....
, which initially focused on investing a $1 billion media-focused private equity fund. Under Rattner's leadership, the firm grew to manage more than $6 billion. Among the firm's several businesses was the management of the personal and philanthropic assets of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Public service
From his tenure with The New York Times in Washington, Rattner developed a lifelong interest in economic policy, which drew him to politics and public service. In the mid-1990's, he began to work actively on behalf of Democratic candidates, beginning with President Bill ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. While it was rumored that Rattner would join a Democratic administration, he did not do so until after the election of President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
In February 2009, with both General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
and Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
on the brink of insolvency, Rattner was appointed Counselor to the United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
and lead auto adviser. He quickly assembled a team that grew to 14 professionals to address this key element of the national economic crisis.
Reporting to both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Henry Summers is an American economist. He served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2010.Summers is the...
, the head of the National Economic Council
National Economic Council
The National Economic Council of the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering economic policy matters, separate from matters relating to domestic policy, which are the domain of the Domestic Policy Council...
, Rattner and his auto task force developed a plan to save both the two manufacturers and related suppliers and finance companies. The plan involved a total government investment of $82 billion in the sector, coupled with controlled bankruptcies for the two auto companies, as well as new management for both.
Rattner later wrote in his book Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Auto Rescue that the toughest decision for President Obama was whether to save Chrysler. There was no disagreement, he later wrote, about asking GM CEO Richard Wagoner to step aside.
By July 2009, both automakers had emerged from bankruptcy, had new management and were on their way to renewed profitability. At that time, Rattner left Washington and returned to private life in New York.
Post-political career
After leaving the government, Rattner wrote his New York Times best selling account of the successful rescue of the auto companies. SlateSlate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
described his book as "unquestionably the best book so far about the Obama presidency."
He continued to speak out on auto-related matters as well as broader economic issues. Early in 2011, he began contributing a monthly column to the Financial Times on subjects ranging from the Greek crisis to the U.S. budget deficit. He also became the economic analyst for the MSNBC news show, Morning Joe. And in June 2011, he was named a contributing writer to The New York Times Op-Ed page, publishing a first column on how government policies drive up corn prices.
Attorney General investigation
In 2010, Rattner spent time fighting an investigation of his and Quadrangle's activities in relation to a "pay-to-play" scandal in New York State. In April 2010, Quadrangle attempted to distance themselves from Ratter.In November 2010, Rattner settled U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges by paying $6.2 million in disgorgement and penalties without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.
The charges of the then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo were that two dozen investment advisors including Quadrangle allegedly paid fees to the Intermediary Hank Morris and did favors for pension officials in order to enrich themselves. Both Morris and Hevesi were sentenced to prison for their conduct involving the New York State Pension Fund’s investment operations.
Rattner spoke out vigorously in his own defense, including a memorable appearance on the Charlie Rose Show. Rattner said he was never a political supporter of Cuomo and accused Cuomo of actions "close to extortion," and said Cuomo "has basically threatened me all along the way that if I don't do what he wants me to do, he will prosecute me to the ends of the earth."
On December 30, 2010, just a day before the end of Cuomo's term as Attorney General, Rattner and the New York Attorney General's office reached a settlement in which Rattner agreed to pay $10 million in restitution but no fines or penalties. In addition, he was not prohibited from continuing to insist on his innocence with respect to all charges. The non-financial terms of the settlement were the most favorable of those received by any of dozens of targets of the investigation.
Personal
Rattner has served as a board member or trustee of a number of public and philanthropic organizations, including the Educational Broadcasting Corporation as chairman, Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City as chairman, Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
and the New American Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
.
Rattner is married to Maureen White, who served for five years as finance chair for the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
and is now the Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Issues to the
Special Representative-Afghanistan and Pakistan for the U.S. Department of State. They have four grown children.
External links
- StevenRattner.com Official Site
- 4 Top Lazard Freres Bankers Are Quitting to Open Firm. New York Times, March 1, 2000
- Eyeing More Turf. New York Times, February 17, 2006
- Quadrangle's Connections. Business Week, Nov. 1, 2004.
- Rattner Joins Panel to Fix Auto Industry. Wall Street Journal, Feb. 24, 2009.
- Obama Car Guru Steve Rattner. Time, April 20, 2009.
- Summons and Complaint. New York Attorney General, November 18, 2010
- Charlie Rose Interview with Steven Rattner. Charlie Rose Show, Nov. 22, 2010.