Steel Shifts to the Treasury

Steel: fiscal responsibilities. Megan Morr

In October, Robert Steel '73, chair of Duke's board of trustees, was sworn in as the country's Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance.

The under secretary leads treasury-department policy on issues of domestic finance, fiscal policy, fiscal operations, government assets, government liabilities, and related economic and fiscal matters.

Steel, a native of Durham, retired as vice chairman of Goldman Sachs & Co., in New York, in 2004 and currently serves as advisory director for the firm. He has taught at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and serves with organizations that include the National Humanities Center, The After-School Corporation, and the Aspen Institute.

Steel majored in history and political science at Duke, then went on to earn an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1984. He has maintained strong ties with Duke through activities that include chairing the Duke Management Company and serving on the trustees' academic-affairs committee and on the health system's board of directors. He and his wife, Gillian Steel, have three daughters and live in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Steel will continue to chair the board of trustees, just as previous chair John Koskinen '61 did after being named deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton.