Steve Westly

Steve Westly is the Founder & Managing Partner of The Westly Group. He and his partners have built one of the largest sustainable energy, mobility, and prop-tech venture firms in the US. The firm has raised five funds with over $800 million under management and has 33 of the world’s largest, global energy, transportation, building, insurance, water, and mobility companies as investors. The firm has invested in 45+ portfolio companies. 9 of these firms have gone public, including four with multi-billion valuations: Sentinel One, Procore, Luminar, and Tesla Motors, where Steve Westly served on the board for three years. Steve also serves as a frequent commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg and The Schwab Network.

Prior to founding The Westly Group, Steve Westly served as the Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer of the state of California – the world’s fifth-largest economy. As Controller, he chaired the State Lands Commission. He served on 63 other boards and commissions, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation’s two largest public pension funds, which have over $700 billion under management.
In the 2008 election cycle, Steve served as a California Co-Chair for the Obama for America campaign. He also served on the US Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board as a representative for the venture capital industry.
Before running for office, Steve helped guide the online auction company eBay through its period of most rapid growth, serving as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Business Development, M&A, and International. Steve helped bring eBay to Europe and Asia and developed the marketing and acquisition strategies that paved the path for the firm’s exponential growth. Steve helped take eBay public in 1998. Steve also served as an executive at several other technology firms, including Netcom and SPRINT.
Steve began his career in Washington, DC, where he worked on Capitol Hill and later in the Office of Conservation and Solar at the US Department of Energy. Steve returned to California to become special assistant to the President of the California Public Utilities Commission. While there, he published two books on energy and utilities.
Steve holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he served as a lecturer for eleven years. He currently teaches a course called “The Technology, Politics, and Finance for Solving Global Warming.”
Steve and his wife, Anita, run the Westly Foundation, which provides education and healthcare services for children and underserved communities throughout California. They have two children.