Steel isn’t there someone connected to one of the GOP candidates with that last name? Are they related?
BTW they still haven’t indicted anyone from the banking or judicial community in CHIcogOH. waiting tap tap tap.
Are you thinking of Michael Steele, Former RNC Chairman?
Here’s your Chicago connection ...
Biography of Robert K. Steel
Robert “Bob” Steel was born in 1951, and grew up in Durham, North Carolina. In 1973, he graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in history and political science.
Mr. Steel moved to Chicago in 1976 to work in institutional sales at Goldman Sachs. He earned his M.B.A. from University of Chicago in 1984.
In 1987, Goldman Sachs sent him to work in its London office, where he spent seven years helping to privatize state-owned businesses in Europe. After his first year, Mr. Steel became partner and headed the European Equities Division. In 1994, he moved to New York City to co-lead the U.S. Equities Division.
Two years later, he was elected vice chairman of Goldman Sachs. He retired in 2004, assuming the role of advisory director.
Upon leaving Goldman Sachs, Mr. Steel became further involved in the non-profit sector. He co-founded SeaChange Capital Partners, which assists nonprofit organizations scale rapidly via a nationwide donor network. He also chaired The After-School Corporation, which is devoted to providing young Americans enriching activities through after-school programs.
In 2004, Mr. Steel began teaching at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. His teaching excellence helped increase student enrollment, for which he was awarded a bonus by the university president.
In 2005, the National Humanities Center, a private institute dedicated to the study of humanities, elected Bob Steel to its board of trustees. He also began serving as a non-executive director of Barclays Bank.
In 2005, Mr. Steel became chairman of Duke University’s board of trustees, after serving on the board for eleven years, five of which he was vice chairman.
In 2006, President George W. Bush asked Mr. Steel to serve his country as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the U.S. Department of Treasury. For nearly two years, Bob Steel was chief advisor to the secretary on financial and economic matters. As Under Secretary, Mr. Steel tackled complex challenges in credit markets and the economy. He is credited with reviving the President’s Working Group, which was the core group then prepared to respond to the global economic crisis of 2008. He managed the Department’s Blueprint for Modernized Regulatory Structure, which recommended several of the reforms since pursued by the Obama administration. And he helped manage Department affairs day-to-day. When Secretary Geithner took office under President Obama, the Wall Street Journal noted that what the incoming Secretary needed was “the next Bob Steel.”
For his achievements at the Treasury Department, Mr. Steel was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest award given to any Treasury employee.
In 2008, he became president and CEO of Wachovia bank. During his tenure, Mr. Steel led Wachovia into a business-saving merger with Wells Fargo.
Bob Steel currently serves on the board of Wells Fargo, and he chairs the Aspen Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes value-based leadership. He also serves on the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Task Force on Financial Reform, which advises Congress on critical financial issues; and serves as director emeritus for The After-School Corporation.
Mr. Steel is a frequent television commentator, providing insight and analysis on economic and financial issues.
In his free time, Bob Steel enjoys golfing, skiing, hiking and spending time with his family, including his wife Gillian and their three daughters.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2008/07/07/daily35.html
Robert Steel is a North Carolina native. He grew up in Durham near Duke University’s east campus. He attended Durham public schools and then Duke, graduating with a bachelor of arts in history and political science in 1973.
After college, Steel relocated to Chicago for his first job in asset management. In 1976, he joined Goldman Sachs & Co. in institutional sales in the Chicago office. While at Goldman, Steel earned a master’s in business administration from the University of Chicago. He graduated in 1984 and became co-head of institutional sales in Chicago.
In 1986, he transferred to London, where he founded Goldman’s European equity capital markets group and was extensively involved in privatization and capital raising efforts for European corporations and governments. He later became head of equities for Europe. In 1994, he moved to New York and was head of the equities division from 1998 to 2001, when he was named a vice chairman of Goldman. Steel retired from Goldman in 2004 but still serves as an adviser to the firm.
He also is a nonexecutive director of Barclays plc and Barclays Bank plc.
In October 2006, Steel became Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance. In that role, he was the principal adviser to the U.S. Treasury secretary on matters of domestic matters. He also led the department’s activities with respect to the domestic financial system, fiscal policy and operations, governmental assets and liabilities, and related economic and financial matters.
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Durham’s own leads Duke Trustees - A Bull City first: R.K. Steel , raised near East Campus, replaces Nicholas
Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) - May 15, 2005
Author: PAUL BONNER
Robert K. Steel on Saturday became the first Durham native to be elected chairman of Duke’s board of trustees since the university was created from Trinity College in 1924.
Steel , who retired as vice chairman of Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York City last year and lives in Greenwich, Conn., has been on the board of trustees since 1996, serving as vice chairman since 2000. On July 1, he replaces as chairman Peter M. Nicholas, who will retire from the board.
Steel is a Duke alumnus, as were both his parents, the late Charles Steel III and Elizabeth Steel . Charles Steel III also was a Durham City Council member from 1957 to 1977. He died in October. Robert Steel grew up in Durham in the family’s Trinity Park home near the Duke East Campus, attending Durham Public Schools and graduating from Durham High School.
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Obituary - STEEL III
Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) - October 28, 2004
STEEL III DURHAM - Mr. Charles Leighton Steel III died Wednesday, October 27, 2004. He was born January 13, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey where his father was the high school principal. He graduated from Duke University in 1942 where he was captain of the lacrosse team. Following graduation, he entered the Marine Corps as an officer candidate and trained as a paratrooper. He served in the South Pacific and then as a member of the 28th Regiment, Fifth Marine Division that conducted the amphibious assault on Iwo Jima and raised the flag on Mount Surabachi. He was promoted to the rank of Captain, and after occupation duty in Japan he returned to Durham and established Steel Music Company as an operator and distributor of jukeboxes.
He was later a general agent for Life Insurance Company of North Carolina and Georgia International Life Insurance Company. He was active in civic affairs serving five terms as a member of the Durham City Council and was elected Mayor pro tempore by his fellow Council members.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Jim_Cramer
On September 29, 2008, during a segment of Mad Money on CNBC, Jim Cramer discussed the Wachovia call he made on September 15, 2008.[44][45] Wachovia CEO Bob Steel told Mad Money viewers that out of $500 billion in loans on the bank’s books, only $10 billion were bad. Just two weeks later, Citigroup bought Wachovia for a highly discounted price, because the actual total was $42 billion, and the FDIC was about to seize Wachovia. Cramer trusted CEO Bob Steel, who he’s known as a solid financier for 25 years, and he urged viewers to do the same. More than anything, Cramer was mad at himself for letting his viewers down. “I let you down,” Cramer said. “I let my judgment of Steel cloud my thinking about Wachovia.”[45] He apologized both on Mad Money and on the Today Show for believing in Steel.
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Mr. Steel is survived by seven sons, Charles Leighton Steel IV, Robert King Steel , John Deaton Steel , Richard Leighton Steel , William Seldon Steel , James McIntyre Steel , and Paul Riddell Steel ; and seven grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Betty Ann Martens of Dayton, Virginia; and his brother, John S. Steel of Harwichport, Massachusetts.
On March 9, 2009, on Mad Money,[51] Jim Cramer said Frank Rich “chastised me for endorsing Wachovia’s stock after then-CEO Bob Steel came onto Mad Money and spoke positively about the bank.” After the bank collapsed, Cramer reminded viewers that he takes pride in “the part about accountability,”[52] and is the first person to admit when wrong. Cramer mentioned, “Look, I was taken in, the guy pantsed me. I made a mistake. The SEC is investigating Steel’s appearance on the show for truthfulness, though. I made a mistake, but they’re investigating him to see if he lied. Bigger issue. Sometimes you just get had.”[51]
CNBC EXCLUSIVE: CNBC TRANSCRIPT: CNBC’S JIM CRAMER INTERVIEWS WACHOVIA PRESIDENT & CEO ROBERT STEEL ON “MAD MONEY W/JIM CRAMER” TONIGHT
http://www.chicagobooth.edu/magazine/30/2/feature2.aspx
Guiding Domestic Finance
by Melissa M. Bernardoni
Published: June 7, 2008
EXCERPT
Steel: I didn’t have a mindset toward an analytical approach, so I found the ideas of linear programming, and how series relate, and statistics with Harry Roberts quite helpful.
As one becomes more interested in planning and managerial issues, these skills become even more valuable. Look at what’s happened in finance. When I started at Goldman Sachs in 1976, there were few derivatives aspects to the capital markets, so you didn’t need to understand the concepts of derivatives very clearly. Today you’re not as well positioned if you’re not comfortable with more sophisticated financial relationships, for which Chicago gives a terrific foundation. I’ve always liked the analogy that the GSB gives you tools you can apply to any situation. At Chicago, I picked up many tools, especially on the analytical side, that I had not developed in my undergraduate program. I had a liberal arts background, so Chicago really let me burnish another side of my potential.
For me, the most enjoyable were all the investment classes: Jim Lorie’s, Merton Miller’s. That was like dessert for me; I found it interesting and just plain fun.
Snyder: Your experience in privatization put you at an important intersection between finance and public policy. Was that part of the backdrop for your involvement with [Harvard’s John F.] Kennedy School [of Government]? It might seem unusual for a partner at Goldman to decide he wants to be involved in a significant way with the Kennedy School.
Steel: Goldman Sachs has a pretty long tradition of encouraging people to engage in all parts of life outside the firm. Consider many of the people who led the firm while I was there: John Whitehead, former deputy secretary of state; Bob Rubin, the first head of the National Economic Council and then secretary of the treasury; Steve Friedman, former head of the National Economic Council and now head of the president’s foreign advisory force on intelligence; Jon Corzine, ’73, former U.S. senator and New Jersey’s current governor; and Hank Paulson, secretary of the treasury. There’s a tradition from the top of being interested in public service and the world outside 85 Broad Street.
I decided to leave Goldman Sachs full time in 2004. A colleague from Goldman Sachs had been working on a class at Harvard and invited me to join him. We co-taught that class for two years, which was a lot of fun. We talked about the economic aspects of public policy and looked at issues, whether it was Social Security or Medicare/Medicaid or Basel, as financial and public policy issues. Public policy schools and business schools have their respective lenses on these issues and we tried to bring them closer to the middle. These are challenging economic issues with a big public policy effect. It was a comfortable transition from Goldman Sachs to think about these issues, and it served as a nice—and completely serendipitous—transition to this job.
Snyder: How did you end up in this job?
Steel: Secretary Paulson called in late June 2006. He and I had been close associates for almost 30 years. I joined Goldman Sachs in 1976 in Chicago and the secretary also worked in the Chicago office, having joined the firm about a year earlier. We were on the 60th floor of the Sears Tower, when that was a new building, and the office had less than 100 people. There are different divisions of the firm, but in a regional office you can’t help but know each other. Over the years, he has been my associate, my partner, and my boss. I’ve always had tremendous respect for him. So when he called and suggested there might be a way that I could help at Treasury, I was quite honored.