Roger Altman | |
|---|---|
| 5thUnited States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury | |
| In office January 20, 1993 – August 17, 1994 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | John Robson |
| Succeeded by | Frank Newman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roger Charles Altman (1946-04-02)April 2, 1946 (age 79) Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Georgetown University (BA) University of Chicago (MBA) |
Roger Charles Altman (born April 2, 1946)[1] is an Americaninvestment banker, the founder and senior chairman ofEvercore, and a formerDemocratic politician. He served asAssistant Secretary of the Treasury in theCarter administration from January 1977 until January 1981 and asDeputy Secretary of the Treasury in theClinton administration from January 1993 until he resigned in August 1994, amid theWhitewater controversy.[2]
Altman was born inBrookline, Massachusetts, and was raised inBoston as a Catholic.[3] His father, a food broker, died when he was 10 years old, and his mother, a librarian, raised Altman and his brother as a single mother.[4] He attended theRoxbury Latin School.[5]
He attendedGeorgetown University, where he met future PresidentBill Clinton, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967. In 1969 he earned anMBA from theUniversity of ChicagoBooth School of Business, but took time off in 1968 to work inIndiana organizing volunteers forRobert F. Kennedy'spresidential campaign.[6]
After graduating from business school in 1969, Altman began working atLehman Brothers, where he grew close to chairmanPeter G. Peterson. In 1974, he was made general partner at the age of 28—the youngest in Lehman's history. He left Lehman in 1977 to serve asAssistant Secretary for Domestic Finance in theU.S. Treasury from 1977 to 1981 under PresidentJimmy Carter, for whom he had fundraised when Carter wasGovernor of Georgia, and campaigned for in 1976, as well as working on his transition team.[5] As Assistant Secretary, Altman played a "role in negotiating the Federal Government's $1.5 billion bailout of theChrysler Corporation."[6]
In 1981, he returned to Lehman Brothers, where he became the co-head of investment banking and served on the board of the company and the management committee. During the 1980s, he was a lecturer and adjunct professor at theYale UniversitySchool of Management. In 1987, Altman joined theBlackstone Group as vice-chairman and head of itsmergers and acquisitions advisory business.[7] During the Reagan-Bush years, he fundraised for Democratic politicians such as Vice PresidentWalter F. Mondale, Massachusetts governorMichael S. Dukakis, and Arkansas governorBill Clinton. He also advised two New York City mayors,Ed Koch andDavid N. Dinkins.[2]
When Bill Clinton waselected in 1992, he urged U.S. treasury secretaryLloyd Bentsen to take Altman on as hisdeputy secretary. He was confirmed in January 1993.[8] Once on the job, Altman was viewed as "the favorite to succeed the 73-year-old Treasury Secretary," and he played a large role in some of the Clinton administration's biggest legislative victories, such as the passage of theOmnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and the "approval of theNorth American Free Trade Agreement."[2] He was associated with the moderateeconomic policies of the Clinton administration" and had a reputation as a "deficit hawk."[9]
However, he resigned in 1994, after it was revealed that Altman had notified the Clinton White House of the criminal referrals made by theResolution Trust Corporation.[10][11][12] After nearly 15 hours of testimony in February 1993 before theHouse andSenate Banking Committees, he submitted his resignation in August 1994, saying that he hoped his resignation would "help to diminish the controversy." He was succeeded byFrank N. Newman, who was the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the time.[2]
In 1995, instead of returning to Blackstone,[13] he co-founded Evercore, an "independentinvestment banking advisory firm" inNew York City, and currently serves as its chairman. By 2014, Evercore was "a major player,"[14] and its investment management arm had more than $14 billion inassets under management, with its investment banking advisory arm boasting $1.5 trillion in "announced transactions."[15] Evercore advisedGeneral Motors through itsbankruptcy, and was paid $46 million by GM pre-bankruptcy. However, when it asked for a $17.9 million "success fee," a U.S. bankruptcy trustee called the fees "staggering," "inordinately large," and "clearly [exceeding] the bounds of reasonableness" given that "Evercore had no success at finding a purchaser or funder for the Debtors."[16]
Politically, Altman continued to stay in the loop. He advised two presidential candidates—John Kerry in 2004,[17] andHillary Clinton in 2008.[18] In 2010, PresidentBarack Obama interviewed him as a potential candidate to replaceLarry Summers as hisNational Economic Council director,[9] a job that ultimately went toGene Sperling.[19]
Altman has sat on the Board of Trustees ofNew York-Presbyterian Hospital since 2006,[20] Vice Chairman of the Board of theAmerican Museum of Natural History, and Chairman of New Visions for Public Schools. Additionally, he is a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations, a Director ofConservation International,[21] and an Advisory Council member for The Hamilton Project, aBrookings Institution economic policy initiative.[22]
Altman is listed as a member of the Steering Committee of TheBilderberg Group, a controversial group of influential business and government leaders who meet annually behind closed doors to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. He participated in all their conferences between 2008 and 2016.[23][24]
His first marriage to Barbara ended in divorce, and he remarried at age 35 to journalistJurate Kazickas in 1981. The Rev. James N. English of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church inWashington, D.C. performed the marriage ceremony at the San Luis Rey Chapel atCat Cay in theBahamas.[25] They have three children. In 1992, he collapsed while jogging inCentral Park due to anirregular heartbeat.[6] His hobbies include jogging, skiing,fly-fishing, and tennis.[5]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
