Steven Rattner

He has continued to speak publicly 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 his first column on how government policies drive up corn prices.

On December 30, 2010, Rattner settled with the New York Attorney General's office by agreeing to pay $10 million in restitution. The settlement involved no fines or penalties. As is customary in settlements of this nature, the settlement does not prohibit Rattner from continuing to protest his innocence.

In February 2009, with General Motors and Chrysler insolvent, Rattner was appointed counselor and lead auto adviser to the United States Secretary of the Treasury, 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.

By July 2009, both automakers had emerged from bankruptcy, had new management and were on their way to profitability. At that time, Rattner left Washington and returned to private life in New York.

In 2009, Quadrangle and other investment firms were investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for their arrangements with Morris. The SEC viewed the payments as "kickbacks" in order to receive investments from the CRF since Morris was also the chief political advisor to Hevesi. Quadrangle paid $7 million in April 2010 to settle the SEC investigation, and Rattner personally settled in November for $6.2 million without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.

After leaving the government, Rattner wrote Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Auto Rescue, his New York Times best-selling account of the automotive industry crisis of 2008-2010.

In 2005, Quadrangle made payments to private placement agent Hank Morris to help Quadrangle raise money for its second buyout fund. Morris had come highly recommended to Rattner from U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. Morris was the chief political advisor to Alan Hevesi, the New York State Comptroller and manager of the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), which invests in many private equity funds. Morris told Rattner he could increase the size of the CRF investment in Quadrangle's second buyout fund. Rattner agreed to pay Morris a placement fee of 1.1% of any investments greater than $25 million from the CRF.

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, Mort Zuckerman, and Merrill Lynch. 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 announced it had been selected to invest the personal assets of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rattner's close friend.

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

In 1986, Rattner married Maureen White in an interfaith service at the Lotos Club in Manhattan. They have four grown children, live in a Manhattan apartment, spend summers on Martha's Vineyard, and own a horse farm in North Salem, New York.

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 various completed deals for large media conglomerates such as Viacom and Comcast. Alongside Felix Rohatyn, Rattner became Lazard's top rainmaker in the 1990s. Michel David-Weill named him the firm's deputy chairman and deputy chief executive in 1997.

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, energy, and urban affairs; there he became friends with colleague Paul Goldberger. In 1977, he was sent back to Washington to cover the energy crisis.

Rattner was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Selma and George Rattner. His father was the president of Paragon Paint and Varnish Corporation and is a playwright who has produced several Off Broadway plays; his mother was an architecture preservationist and vice president of the Victorian Society of America. Rattner has two siblings: Donald Rattner and Susan Rattner. 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.

Steven Lawrence Rattner (born July 5, 1952) is a New York investment asset manager who served as lead adviser to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry in 2009, co-chaired by Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, for the Obama administration. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Willett Advisors LLC, the private investment group that manages billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's personal and philanthropic assets. He continues to be involved in public policy matters as the economic analyst for MSNBC's Morning Joe, and as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times op-ed page.