Lewis Michael Eisenberg (born October 12, 1942) is an American financier and investor who was the

United States Ambassador to Italy Since 1840, the United States has had diplomacy, diplomatic representation in the Italian Republic and its predecessor nations, the Kingdom of Sardinia and then the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946), Kingdom of Italy, with a break in relations fro ...

and the United States Ambassador to San Marino. He is known for co-founding and heading

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

Granite Capital International Group L.P. He has a multi-decade history in American political fundraising circles and has held a number of national, state, and bi-state appointments throughout his career, including serving as the chairman of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

at the time of the September 11, 2001 attack of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

, which the Port Authority operated. In July 2017, Eisenberg was named as President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's nominee to become the

.Savage, Charlie, et al.
Two big Trump donors get plum ambassadorships"">"Taxpayers Will Defend Trump in Suit Charging Constitutional Violations > Two big Trump donors get plum ambassadorships"
''The New York Times'', January 23, 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017. He was confirmed by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

on August 3, 2017.

Early life

Eisenberg was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and grew up in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. His family made their living in the agricultural business. He attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in 1964. He enrolled at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in 1966.

Financial career

Eisenberg began his career on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

after completing his education at

. He began working for

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

in 1966. From 1966 to 1989, Eisenberg worked in a variety of capacities for Goldman Sachs. Eisenberg became a partner in 1978 and concluded his run at Goldman Sachs as co-head of the Equity Division. In 1990, Eisenberg co-founded Granite Capital International Group L.P., an investment management firm where, as co-chairman, he oversaw investment management for private clients. He co-founded Granum Communications and served on that company's board until 2007. He served on the board of ITC, the nation's largest independent electric transmission business and a former

KKR KKR may refer to: * KKR & Co., a global investment firm *Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League franchise * Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant (), first nuclear power plant in the former East Germany * Kalkara, Malta, postal code KKR *Kir-Bala ...

portfolio company. Eisenberg served as a senior advisor for

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

beginning in 2009. Working alongside co-founders

Henry Kravis Henry Roberts Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.George R. Roberts, Eisenberg provided enhanced investment expertise particularly in the public infrastructure arena.

Public service

Eisenberg was appointed by

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Governor

Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush ...

to chair the New Jersey Commission on Privatization and Competitive Contracting in 1994. He was elected chairman of the board of Commissioners of the

on November 9, 1995. Prior to his election as chairman, Eisenberg had served since February 1994 as a commissioner on the same agency's board, having been nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman. During his term as chairman, his most notable achievement was the negotiation of a long-term lease with

Larry Silverstein Larry A. Silverstein (born May 30, 1931) is an American billionaire businessman. Among his real estate projects, he is the developer of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City, as well as one of New York's tal ...

for the World Trade Center; the Towers were at their highest occupancy in history in the late 1990s and the desire to privatize the buildings was born from an economic strategy of the

Pataki Pataki may refer to: * Pataki (surname) * Hungarian name of Potoky, Slovakia * '' Hayden v. Pataki'' * ''Pataki'' (film), a 2017 Indian Kannada-language film See also * Patakí stories * Potaki (disambiguation) * Potok (disambiguation) * Poto ...

administration. His term as chairman of the Port Authority ended in December 2001. It was during his time as chairman that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred at the Twin Towers, taking the lives of 84 Port Authority employees including then executive director

Neil Levin Neil David Levin (September 16, 1954 – September 11, 2001) was an American businessman and political figure who was executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from April 2001 until his death during the September 11 at ...

. Prior to the

9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Eisenberg was scheduled to step down as chairman of the Port Authority in preparation for a proposed appointment by then Acting New Jersey Governor

Donald DiFrancesco Donald Thomas DiFrancesco (born November 20, 1944) is a retired American politician who served as the 51st governor of New Jersey from 2001 to 2002. He succeeded Christine Todd Whitman after her resignation to become Administrator of the Enviro ...

to the chairmanship of the

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) is an independent authority established by the State of New Jersey in 1971 to oversee the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Originally consisting of Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack in ...

. Eisenberg chose to stay on at the Port Authority through the days after the

9/11 attack The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Hijackers in the September 11 attacks#Hijackers, Nineteen terrorists hijacked four com ...

and to provide "continued leadership" in order "to provide a comforting continuity in times of tragedy". Soon after stepping down from the Port Authority,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...

appointed Eisenberg as a director of the

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in November 2001, following the September 11 attacks, to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan. ...

's board in January 2002, where he remained involved with the aftermath of the attacks and contributed to the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. At that time he was appointed by Pataki to chair the Victims' Families and Transportation Advisory Council until April 2003.

Politics

In 2000, Eisenberg served as the chairman of the Victory 2000 campaign in New Jersey. In January 2002, Eisenberg became the chairman of finance committee for the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

in Washington, D.C. In 2003, he became co-chairman of the NYC 2004 Host Committee for the Republican Convention and co-chairman of Bush/Cheney 2004 in New Jersey. Eisenberg served on the transition teams of Governors Whitman from New Jersey and Governor Pataki from New York and on the Bush-Cheney presidential transition team. He is a founder and former chairman of the

Republican Leadership Council The Republican Leadership Council (RLC or RLC-PAC) was founded in 1993 as the Committee for Responsible Government. It was a United States political advocacy group and political action committee that promoted Republican candidates who choose a pla ...

, a political action committee based in Washington, D.C. From 2002 to 2004, he served as chairman for the finance committee of the Republican National Committee. In 2004, he served as co-chairman of the Convention Host Committee for the

2004 Republican National Convention The 2004 Republican National Convention took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of Republican National Convention, historic quadrennial meetings at w ...

. In 2008, he served as

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

for President National Co-chairman, and as National Finance chairman for McCain/Palin Victory 2008. He was a fundraising leader for the presidential campaign of

in 2016. He is a resident of

Rumson, New Jersey Rumson is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,343, a ...

Awards and recognition

In 1995, he received the Eagle Award from the New Jersey Alliance for Action. In 2000, Eisenberg was honored as the "Man of the Year" by the

National Conference for Community and Justice The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures. The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...

in New Jersey. In 2000,

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...

named him as the New Jersey Businessman of the Year. On May 16, 2001, Eisenberg received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from

"Monmouth University Commencement Photos"
in Monmouth, New Jersey. On May 5, 2002, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the

Rabbinical College of America The Rabbinical College of America is a Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic yeshiva in Morristown, New Jersey. The Yeshiva was led by Rabbi Moshe Herson until his death in 2025. The growth of the Yeshiva college has had a significant cultural effect on ...

. On 2018 Eisenberg received the Premio Simpatia in Rome.

Non-profit work

Eisenberg served on the advisory council of Samuel Johnson Graduate School of Management at

, and was a board member of St. Barnabas Health Care System and past chairman of its investment committee. He served on the board of trustees of

Monmouth Medical Center Monmouth Medical Center, based in Long Branch, New Jersey, is one of New Jersey's largest community academic medical centers. It is an academic affiliate of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of Rutgers University and is a part of the larger R ...

Foundation.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenberg, Lewis Michael 1942 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Italy Ambassadors of the United States to San Marino American chief executives of financial services companies American financiers American philanthropists Chairmen of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Dartmouth College Kohlberg Kravis Roberts people New York (state) Republicans New Jersey Republicans Port Authority of New York and New Jersey people Private equity and venture capital investors Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management alumni First Trump administration personnel 21st-century American diplomats Goldman Sachs people