Steven Rattner

Steven Lawrence Rattner (born July 5, 1952) is an American investor, media commentator, and former journalist.

He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Willett Advisors, the private investment firm that manages billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's personal and philanthropic assets.

He began his career as an economic reporter for The New York Times before moving to a career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Lazard Freres & Co., where he rose to deputy chairman and deputy chief executive officer.

He then became a managing principal of the Quadrangle Group, a private equity investment firm that specialized in the media and communications industries.

While at Brown, he served as editor-in-chief of The Brown Daily Herald in 1973.

Upon graduating from Brown, Rattner was hired in Washington, D.C., as a news clerk to James Reston, New York Times columnist and former executive editor.

After a year, he moved to New York as a reporter to cover business and energy; there he became friends with colleague Paul Goldberger.

Rattner received his A.B. with honors in economics from Brown University in 1974 and was awarded the Harvey Baker Fellowship.

In 1977, he was transferred back to Washington to cover the energy crisis.

At age 27 he became the paper's chief Washington economic correspondent.

He became close friends with Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.., who was then the Times publisher.

He concluded his service to The New York Times with two years in London as its European economic correspondent.

At the end of 1982, Rattner left The New York Times and was recruited by Roger Altman to join the investment bank Lehman Brothers as an associate.

After Lehman was sold to American Express in 1984, he followed his boss Eric Gleacher and several colleagues to Morgan Stanley, where he founded the firm's communications group.

In 1989, after Morgan Stanley filed for an initial public offering, he joined Lazard as a general partner and with Lazard colleagues advised on numerous deals for large media conglomerates such as Viacom and Comcast.

Alongside Felix Rohatyn, Rattner became Lazard's top rainmaker in the 1990s.

In the mid-1990s, he began to work actively on behalf of Democratic candidates, beginning with President Bill Clinton.

Michel David-Weill named him the firm's deputy chairman and deputy chief executive in 1997.

In March 2000, Rattner and three Lazard partners, including Joshua Steiner, left the firm and founded the Quadrangle Group.

They initially focused on investing a $1 billion media-focused private equity fund.

Early investors in Quadrangle included Sulzberger, and Mort Zuckerman.

Headquartered in the Seagram Building, Quadrangle grew to manage more than $6 billion across several business lines, including private equity, distressed securities, and hedge funds.

The firm also hosted an annual gathering for media executives called Foursquare, where speakers included Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg.

In 2008, the firm's asset management division was selected to invest the personal and philanthropic assets of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rattner's close friend.

Throughout his business career, Rattner has served on several corporate boards, including Cablevision, IAC/InterActiveCorp, and Protection One.

During his tenure with The New York Times in Washington D.C., Rattner developed an interest in economic policy, drawing him to politics and public service.

In 2008, Newsweek reported that he had long aspired to a cabinet position.

In 2009, Rattner was named lead adviser to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.

He has also been an economic analyst for MSNBC's Morning Joe, and as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times op-ed page.

Rattner was born to a Jewish family in Great Neck, New York, the son of Selma and George Rattner.

His father was the president of a small paint company and a playwright who produced several Off-Broadway plays; his mother was an architecture preservationist and vice president of the Victorian Society of America.

He attended local public schools in Great Neck.

In February 2009, with General Motors and Chrysler insolvent, Rattner was appointed counselor to the United States Secretary of the Treasury and lead auto adviser, a role informally referred to in the media as the "car czar".

He soon assembled a team that grew to 14 professionals to address the financial problems of the two auto companies.

Reporting to both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, the head of the National Economic Council, Rattner's team developed a plan to save both the two manufacturers and related suppliers and finance companies.

The plan involved a government investment of $82 billion in the sector, coupled with controlled bankruptcies for the two auto companies, as well as new management for both, and the closure of 2,000 automobile dealerships and loss of tens of thousands of related jobs.

A White & Case lawyer claimed that Rattner had threatened the reputation of Perella Weinberg if they continued to oppose the controlled bankruptcies; however Parella Weinberg denied this claim and The New York Times found that Rattner had never spoken with the lawyer who made the claim.

Rattner later stated that the toughest decision for President Obama about the two auto companies was whether to save Chrysler.

There was, however, no disagreement 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 profitability.