Steven Rattner

From the wallets of donors wined and dined here, Rattner and his wife, Maureen White, have raised millions for the presidential runs of Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry (White was formerly national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee). And it is also in this sumptuous abode that Rattner cultivated lucrative ties to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In January, Rattner's firm, Quadrangle Group, was tapped to manage the mayor's $16 billion-plus fortune, and in July, Quadrangle advised Bloomberg L.P., the financial-media empire he controls, on its repurchase of a $4.5 billion stake held by Merrill Lynch. "Steve Rattner has the ability to do almost anything," Bloomberg says. Steven Rattner is chairman of Willett Advisors LLC, the investment arm for New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s personal and philanthropic assets. In addition, he is a contributing writer for the op-ed page of The New York Times and the economic analyst for MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Previously, Rattner left the Brookings board to serve as counselor to the secretary of the Treasury and led the Obama administration’s successful effort to restructure the automobile industry, which he chronicled in his book, Overhaul: An Insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry. Until February 2009, Rattner was managing principal of Quadrangle Group LLC, a private investment firm that under his leadership had more than $6 billion of assets under management. Before forming Quadrangle in 2000, Rattner was with Lazard Frères & Co., where he served as deputy chairman and deputy chief executive officer. Rattner joined Lazard Frères in 1989 as a general partner from Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director. Before beginning his investment banking career in 1982 with Lehman Brothers, Rattner was employed by The New York Times for nearly nine years, principally as an economic correspondent in New York, Washington and London. Rattner has served as a board member or trustee of a number of public and philanthropic organizations including the Educational Broadcasting Corporation (Chairman), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brown University (Fellow), Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City (Chairman), and the New America Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rattner graduated in 1974 from Brown University with honors in economics and was awarded the Harvey Baker Fellowship. He is married to Maureen White, who is a State Department official, and they have four children.