| Steve Feinberg | |
| Office: | Chair of the Intelligence Oversight Board |
| President: | Donald Trump |
| Term Start: | August 16, 2018 |
| Term End: | January 20, 2021 |
| Predecessor: | Neal S. Wolin |
| Successor: | Vacant |
| Office1: | Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board |
| President1: | Donald Trump |
| Term Start1: | May 12, 2018 |
| Term End1: | January 20, 2021 |
| Predecessor1: | Shirley Jackson Jami Miscik |
| Successor1: | Sandy Winnefeld |
| Birth Date: | 29 March 1960 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Party: | Republican |
| Spouse: | Gisella Sanchez |
| Children: | 3 daughters |
| Education: | Princeton University (AB) |
Stephen Andrew Feinberg (born March 29, 1960) is an American businessman and investor active in hedge fund management and private equity.[1] He is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cerberus Capital Management. As of July 2024, his net worth is US$4.8 billion.[2] In 2017 Cerberus also owned DynCorp, which is a major national security contractor with the US government, charging billions for overseas military and police training.[3] On May 11, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump named Feinberg to head the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.[4] Trump plans to nominate him to serve as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense as of 2024.[5]
Feinberg was born to a Jewish family[6] [7] and raised in The Bronx, New York. When aged eight, his family moved to Spring Valley, New York,[8] a suburb of New York City. His father was a steel salesman. He graduated with an A.B. in politics from Princeton University in 1982 after completing a 94-page long senior thesis titled "The Politics of Prostitution and Drug Legalization."[9] [10] While a student at Princeton, Feinberg captained the tennis team and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
After graduating from college, Feinberg worked as a trader at Drexel Burnham in 1982 and later at Gruntal & Co.[11]
In 1992, at the age of 32, Feinberg co-founded Cerberus Capital Management with William L. Richter. At the time the firm had $10 million under management; its assets under management have since grown to over $60 billion in 2024.[12] [13] In 1999, the firm hired former vice president Dan Quayle as a chairman of Cerberus Global Investment.[14] In 2006, the firm hired former United States Secretary of the Treasury John Snow, who serves as a chairman of Cerberus.[15]
In May 2011, Feinberg stated that he believed residential mortgage-backed securities may present "a real opportunity for continued investment for quite a period of time"[16] and that there were opportunities in buying assets from European banks.
Feinberg has been critical about the pay received by private equity executives, stating, "In general, I think that all of us are way overpaid in this business. It is almost embarrassing."[17] He has also noted in comments made in 2011 that smaller private equity fund sizes may be better for investor returns: "If your goal is to maximize your return as opposed to assets under management, I think you can be most effective with a big company infrastructure and a little bit smaller fund size."[17]
Feinberg has been described as "secretive" in The New York Times.[18] In 2007, Feinberg told Cerberus shareholders, "If anyone at Cerberus has his picture in the paper and a picture of his apartment, we will do more than fire that person. We will kill him. The jail sentence will be worth it."[19]
Feinberg is a major Republican donor.[20] In 2016, he served on the Trump Economic Advisory Council during Donald Trump's presidential campaign, donated nearly $1.5 million to pro-Trump PACs, and co-hosted a $50,000 per person Republican National Committee and Trump fundraising dinner alongside other financiers.[21] [22] In February 2017, the New York Times reported that President Trump will assign Feinberg a role in the White House leading a review of the US intelligence agencies.[23]
Together with his spouse, Feinberg contributed $715,600 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.[24]
He is a member of The Business Council in Washington, DC, an association of chief executive officers from a broad range of companies who meet several times a year for high-level policy discussions.[25] [26] In December 2024, incoming president Donald Trump offered to nominate Feinberg as the Deputy Secretary of Defense, according to a reporter at The Washington Post.[27]
Feinberg reportedly made $50 million in 2004. He splits time between his homes on Manhattan's Upper East Side and Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife Gisela (née Sanchez).
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