Mr. Steve Westly

Founder, CEO of The Westly Group

Prior to founding The Westly Group, Steve served as the Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer of the state of California—the world’s sixth largest economy. As Controller, he chaired the State Lands Commission and served on 63 other boards and commissions, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation’s two largest public pension funds, which together invest more than $350 billion. During his four-year term, Westly spearheaded innovative tax programs that helped close the State’s budget deficit. He also led an effort to commit more than $1 billion to clean technology investments.

Before running for office, Westly helped guide the online auction company eBay through a period of rapid growth, serving as the senior vice president of marketing, business development, M & A, and international. Westly helped bring eBay to Europe and Asia, and developed the marketing and acquisition strategies that paved the path for the firm’s exponential growth.

Westly served as a senior executive for a number of Silicon Valley companies over a twenty-year period, including WhoWhere, the nation’s leading personal search directory, and Codd & Date, a relational database consulting firm with offices in five countries.

Westly began his career in Washington, D.C., where he worked first on Capitol Hill and later in the Office of Conservation and Solar at the U.S. Department of Energy. Westly then returned to California to become special assistant to the president of the California Public Utilities Commission. While there, he published two books on alternative energy and the utilities. Westly also worked for four years as a program manager for Sprint.

Westly has a BA from Stanford University and a MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he served on the faculty for five years.