Tom Steyer
Thomas Fahr Steyer (/ˈstaɪ.ər/; born June 27, 1957) is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, and liberal activist.[1][2] Steyer is the co-founder and co-chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions,[3] founder and former co-senior-managing-partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank, which became (through merger) Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank.[1] Farallon Capital manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors include college endowments and foundations.[1] Steyer served on the board of trustees at Stanford University from 2007 to 2017.[4][5] Since 1986, he has been a partner and member of the executive committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco–based private equity firm.
Tom Steyer
- Climate investor
- Businessman
- banker
- philanthropist
- financier
- activist
Co-executive chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions
Founder of Farallon Capital
Co-founder of Beneficial State Bank
4
Jim Steyer (brother)
In 2010, Steyer and his wife signed The Giving Pledge to donate half of their fortune to charity during their lifetime. In 2012, he sold his stake in and retired from Farallon Capital. Switching his focus to politics and the environment, he launched NextGen America, a nonprofit organization that supports progressive positions on climate change, immigration, health care, and education.[6][7]
Steyer sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, but dropped out of the race after the first four state contests,[8][9] having spent more than $191 million on campaign advertising but failing to obtain any pledged delegates.[9]
In 2021, Steyer co-founded Galvanize Climate Solutions with Katie Hall, his longtime friend and business partner. Galvanize is a climate-focused, global investment firm.[10]
Early life and education[edit]
Steyer was born in Manhattan.[11] 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,[12][13] and was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.[14] His father was a non-practicing Jew, and his mother was Episcopalian.[11]
Steyer grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and attended the Buckley School and Phillips Exeter Academy.[11] He graduated from Yale University summa cum laude in economics and political science, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was captain of the soccer team. At Yale, Steyer was a member of Wolf's Head Society[15] Steyer received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.[11][16] He has served on the Stanford University board of trustees.[4]
Philanthropy[edit]
In 2006, Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, founded OneRoof, Inc., a B Corp and social enterprise business designed to bring broadband connectivity, computer literacy, and employment skills via OneRoof Internet Centers to small rural towns in rural India and Mexico.[29][30]
In 2007, Steyer and Taylor founded Beneficial State Bank, a community development bank, for the purpose of providing commercial banking services to underserved Bay Area businesses, nonprofits, and individuals, with operations now in California, Oregon, and Washington. Its stock ownership is entirely held by a foundation such that all profits are reinvested in local communities.[31][32][33]
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.[21][34]
In August 2010, Steyer and his wife signed onto The Giving Pledge, an initiative of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.[35][36]
Steyer and Taylor created the TomKat Ranch in Pescadero, California, near Half Moon Bay.[37] The ranch is meant to research and demonstrate a sustainable way of doing agriculture.[38] The ranch's activities include underwriting healthy food programs and co-producing an independent film, La Mission, starring Benjamin Bratt, about San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.[39] Around 2011, Steyer joined the board of Next Generation, a nonprofit intending to tackle children's issues and the environment. In 2013, Steyer founded NextGen Climate, an environmental advocacy nonprofit and political action committee.[11]
In August 2015, Steyer launched the Fair Shake Commission on Income Inequality and Middle Class Opportunity, which was intended to advocate policies for promoting income equality.[40]
Personal life[edit]
In August 1986, Steyer married Kathryn Ann Taylor, a graduate of Harvard College who earned a Master of Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from Stanford University. The Reverend Richard Thayer, a Presbyterian minister, and Rabbi Charles Familant performed the ceremony.[12] They have four children, Samuel Taylor ("Sam"), Charles Augustus ("Gus"), Evelyn Hoover ("Evi"), and Henry Hume ("Henry").[18] Kathryn was on the President's Council for the United Religions Initiative, an interfaith group.[129]
Steyer has two brothers: Hume Steyer, an attorney in New York City and Jim Steyer, an attorney, author, and Stanford University professor.[130][11]
Steyer has a net worth of $1.6 billion.[131] Men's Journal mentioned the modest aspects of his lifestyle noting that he owns an "outdated hybrid Honda Accord" and eschews luxury items such as expensive watches.[11] Steyer wears tartan neckties every day, because in his words “You gotta dress up for a fight.”[132][133]
In his late 30s, Steyer had "a revelation" and began an involvement in the Episcopal Church, the religion of his mother (his father was a non-practicing Jew).[11] He has stated that during this time he became much more interested in religion and theology. The new interest reportedly galvanized his political advocacy.[25]
In 2018, Steyer received two suspicious packages from convicted mail bomber Cesar Sayoc.[134]
He resides in San Francisco, California.[135]