If you haven’t heard of Stephen A. Schwarzman, this should interest you. Last year Steve was ranked the fifty-third wealthiest in America by Forbes Magazine, but it’s not money that makes this tale so interesting but his undreamt of achievements in the business sector and his generosity to education and the liberal arts. His biography has affected a lot of people worldwide and in addition it serves as a reminder that everyone may be a success through hard work and dedication. In the eighties Steve and his co-founder launched their first firm extending financial advice. Today, of course, the Blackstone Group is a household name boasting holdings as variegated as Legoland and Madame Tussauds. Spending many of his formative years in near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Steve attended school in suburban Philadelphia. He graduated from Abington Senior High School, his next step was to receive his degree from the famous Connecticut University, Yale in 1969. He set about taking an Master’s degree in Business Administration at the well acclaimed Harvard Business school near Boston, MA. Once he had finished his time at college, Steve began a job in investment banking at Lehman Brothers. Steve was assigned the title of managing director at the age of 31. Steve doesn’t solely give of his time and money to a broad range of charitable organizations, but he has also volunteered as a non-faculty professor at Yale. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. On top of all that, he declared with pride in the spring of 2008 that he had presented $100 million to the New York Public Library to help finance their expansion. They also named one of their recently built buildings the “Stephen A. Schwarzman Building” in his honor.
You won’t be surprised to learn, the elite of America look at Stephen A. Schwarzman as a role model – he was identified as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in recognition of his accomplishments and influence in the business world and on the financial sector. His quick rise to power in the business and financial sectors is surely amazing, and without a shadow of a doubt his generosity has given Americans a new standard to try for. As far as the financial world goes, Steve Schwarzman has it all. To sum up, Stephen A. Schwarzman has, in retrospect, had a remarkable influence on the business and financial communities and the world generally.