Stephen Andrew Feinberg (born March 29, 1960) is an American businessman and

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...

who has served as the 36th

United States deputy secretary of defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the se ...

since 2025. He is the co-founder and former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of

Cerberus Capital Management Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is an American global alternative investment firm with assets across credit, private equity, and real estate strategies.Leaders Magazine"Providing Economic Opportunity: An Interview with The Honorable Dan Qua ...

. Feinberg was also chair of the

President's Intelligence Advisory Board The President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is an advisory body to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. According to its self-description, it "provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy o ...

from 2018 to 2021, during the

first Trump administration Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...

Early life and education

Feinberg 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 and raised in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York. When aged eight, his family moved to

Spring Valley, New York Spring Valley is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the town of Ramapo, New York, Ramapo and Clarkstown, New York, Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is ...

,Upstart Business Journal: "The Most Dangerous Deal in America" by Daniel Roth
August 13, 2007 a suburb of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His father was a steel salesman. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in politics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1982 after completing a 94-page senior thesis titled "The Politics of

Prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and Drug Legalization." While a student at Princeton, Feinberg captained the

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

team and joined the

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

Professional career

After graduating from college, Feinberg worked as a trader at Drexel Burnham in 1982 and later at Gruntal & Co. In 1992, at the age of 32, Feinberg co-founded

with William L. Richter and $10 million under management; by 2024; its assets under management would grow past $60 billion. In 1999, the firm hired former vice president

Dan Quayle James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party (United States), ...

as a chairman of Cerberus Global Investment. In 2006, the firm hired former

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

John Snow John Snow (15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858) was an English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology and early germ theory, in part because of hi ...

, who serves as a chairman of Cerberus. In May 2011, Feinberg stated that he believed residential mortgage-backed securities may present "a real opportunity for continued investment for quite a period of time" and that there were opportunities in buying assets from European banks. Feinberg has said of the pay received by himself and other private equity executives, "In general, I think that all of us are way overpaid in this business. It is almost embarrassing." He has also noted in comments made in 2011 that smaller private equity fund sizes may be better for investor returns: "If your goal is to maximize your return as opposed to

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

, I think you can be most effective with a big company infrastructure and a little bit smaller fund size." Feinberg has been described as "secretive" in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. In 2007, Feinberg told Cerberus shareholders, "If anyone at Cerberus has his picture in the paper and a picture of his apartment, we will do more than fire that person. We will kill him. The jail sentence will be worth it." Cerberus owned

DynCorp DynCorp International Inc. (), was an American private military contractor. Starting as an aviation company, the company also provided flight operations support, training and mentoring, international development, intelligence training and suppor ...

, a major private security contractor, from 2010 to 2020, leading to accusations of a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

during Feinberg's service on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, and again after his nomination as Deputy Secretary of Defense.Ken Dilanian, Peter Alexander
Trump Asks Billionaire Steve Feinberg To Review Intel Agencies - NBC News
February 16, 2017. In March of 2025, he left his position as co-CEO of

as he was sworn in as the 36th

United States Deputy Secretary of Defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the se ...

Early political involvement

Feinberg is a major Republican donor. In 2016, he served on the Trump Economic Advisory Council during

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 presidential campaign, donated nearly $1.5 million to pro-Trump PACs, and co-hosted a $50,000 per person

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 ...

and Trump fundraising dinner alongside other financiers. In February 2017, the ''New York Times'' reported that President Trump will assign Feinberg a role in the White House leading a review of the US intelligence agencies. On May 11, 2018, President

named Feinberg to head the

. Together with his spouse, Feinberg contributed $715,600 to

's 2020 presidential campaign. He is a member of

The Business Council The Business Council is a nonpartisan organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, an association of chief executive officers from a range of companies who meet several times a year for high-level policy discussions.

United States deputy secretary of defense

On December 22 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of Feinberg to serve as the

. Several Democratic senators including

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

expressed concerns over his past experience and possible conflicts of interest between his company

and the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

. On February 25, 2025, during his confirmation hearing, Feinberg declined to say if Russia invaded Ukraine when pressed by senators, and expressed support for large-scale firings within the Defense Department. On March 14, 2025, Feinberg was confirmed by the United States Senate with a 59–40 vote. He was sworn in as the 36th

on March 17, 2025.

Personal life

As of March 2025, his net worth is

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5 billion. He splits time between his homes on

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

and

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

, with his wife Gisela (née Sanchez).

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Stephen 1960 births Living people 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews American billionaires American chief executives of financial services companies American financial traders American financiers American hedge fund managers American investors American money managers American political fundraisers Businesspeople from the Bronx Businesspeople from Greenwich, Connecticut Cerberus Capital Management Drexel Burnham Lambert First Trump administration personnel People from Spring Valley, New York Princeton University alumni Private equity and venture capital investors Second Trump administration personnel United States deputy secretaries of defense