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Steven Paul Westly (born August 27, 1956) is an American venture capitalist, entrepreneur, educator, and politician. He was the State Controller of California from 2003 to 2007 and was one of the top candidates in the Democratic primary for Governor of California in the 2006 election. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by California State Treasurer Phil Angelides by 4%, who later lost to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the November 2006 elections.
During the 2008 Presidential Election, Westly served as California Campaign Co-chair for Obama for America and also as a member of Obama for America's National Finance Committee. Westly was briefly considered for a cabinet-level position in the Obama administration. Currently, Westly is a Managing Partner at The Westly Group, a clean technology venture capital firm which he founded in 2007. The company has successfully raised five venture capital funds and has $800 million in Assets Under Management (AUM). The company has 30 of the world's largest strategic companies companies as investors including Duke Energy, VW/Audi, State Farm, Bridgestone, ABB, and American Electric Power. The Westly Group has had nine portfolio companies go public including four multi-billion dollar exits at Tesla Motors, Procore, Luminar, and Sentinel One. The company has offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Washington DC.
Westly is also a frequent commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg, Schwab Network, and other outlets. He has done over 70 interviews on live national television on Tesla, the future of electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, new battery technologies, and the rise of the Chinese auto industry.
A member of the Democratic Party, Westly worked for Congressman Leo Ryan in 1978 as his first job out of college. Later that year, after Ryan's death on foreign soil at the hands of the Peoples Temple cult, he worked in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Solar and Conservation under President Jimmy Carter until 1980. After working in the Carter Administration, he joined the California Public Utilities Commission as Special Assistant to CPUC President John Bryson.Steve Westly, editor. "Energy Utilities, The Next 10 Years, A Symposium at Stanford University, March 27–28, 1981" (California Public Utilities Commission, July 1981) While at CPUC, Westly had two books published on renewable energy and the future of the utility industry.
His brother, Dean Westly, practices law in the Silicon Valley region of Northern California.
In 1983, Westly became the New Business Manager at Sprint Telecommunications. In 1986, he became an investment banker at Valentine and Company (later called Bridgemere Capital) in San Francisco. In 1988, Westly became President of Codd & Date, a leading relational database consulting & services firm. In 1991, Westly became the Deputy Director of the City of San Jose Office of Economic Development and began teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he taught for five years from 1991 to 1995.
In 1994, he became the Director of Netcom, one of the early large internet service providers and in 1995, became Vice President of WhoWhere?, then the largest Internet directory. In 1997, Westly joined eBay as one of its early executives. He began as Vice President and subsequently gained the title of Senior Vice President for Marketing, Business Development, and International. He retired from eBay in 2000 when he and his wife, Anita Yu, established the Westly Foundation.
In February 2007, Westly joined the board of Tesla Motors, a pioneering northern California manufacturer of electric cars. He is now a Managing Partner and founder of The Westly Group, one of the larger venture funds in the US focusing on smart energy, mobility, and buildings. The Westly Group has had nine companies go public on NASDAQ including Tesla Motors.
Steve Westly also served as a lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business from 1991–1995. He returned to teach a new course at Stanford Business School called "The Policy, Politics, and Finance for Solving Global Warming" 2020 to 2024 and continues to teach there today.
Westly ran for California State Controller in 2002 against State Senator Tom McClintock and won by a margin of 22,730 votes (out of 7,258,758 votes cast). Westly garnered 3,289,839 (45.4%) votes while McClintock won the support of 3,273,028 (45.1%) people. Three other candidates won 695,891 (9.5%) votes.
Westly also introduced the ReadyReturn plan to simplify tax preparation by offering to send taxpayers a prefilled form from the state, and allowing them to sign and automatically file their tax refund in a pilot program started in 2005. Westly is also in favor of enforcing current laws requiring Californians to pay sales tax on Internet purchases.http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14259087p-15073366c.html
In the months leading up to the election, Westly overcame an early Angelides advantage and gained the edge in various polls, leading by as much as 13 points. Moreover, unlike Angelides, he consistently beat Governor Schwarzenegger in hypothetical general election matchups.
Despite Westly's momentum and resources, the California Democratic Party endorsed Angelides at the State Democratic Party Convention. The race turned negative, highlighting environmental controversies surrounding Angelides' background as a real estate developer and Westly's broken pledge to keep his campaign clean. Westly's candidacy also was hurt by an unprecedented multi-million dollar independent expenditure by Sacramento real estate developer and longtime Angelides patron Angelo Tsakopoulos. As election day neared, Westly's momentum dissipated and the race tightened. A Field Poll held on June 2, 2006 had Westly leading Angelides by one percentage point, 35% to 34% with 26% undecided and an error size of +/- 4.5 points.
The high number of undecided voters led to the lowest turnout in a California primary election in over half a century. Despite over $80 million spent on the race, including over $35 million of Westly's personal fortune, only 30.8% of California Democrats came out to vote, the lowest number in recent history. Angelides finished on election night with 48% of the vote compared to Westly's 44%. Westly endorsed Angelides' candidacy at a unity breakfast the morning after election night.
Angelides' Republican opponent, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has since used quotes from Westly's campaign to attack Angelides. Westly, who endorsed Angelides after the primary, countered, "Governor Schwarzenegger has shown great interest in what Steve Westly has to say about 2006. He is right here to tell you that we all need to vote for the Democratic candidate Phil Angelides in November 2006." abc7news.com: Westly Stands Beside Phil Angelides 7/07/06
Phil Angelides was defeated in a landslide by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during the general election held on November 7, 2006 .
Westly's name was also figured in political speculation as a possible candidate for Governor to succeed Schwarzenegger in 2010. Former Governor Jerry Brown won the Democratic nomination and defeated Republican Meg Whitman (also a former eBay executive) in November 2010. Westly supported Brown for governor and hosted a Brown fundraiser in October 2010.
He was rumored to run again for Governor of California in 2018, however he did not file to run before the primary.
Westly returned to teach a new course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business called “The Technology, Politics, and Finance for Solving Global Warming” in the Spring of 2020 and continues to teach there today. Mr. Westly is also a frequent guest on CNBC and other business outlets discussing Tesla Motors and the future of Electric and Autonomous Vehicles. Mr. Westly has also had over 60 articles and op-eds printed in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, San Diego Union-Tribune, and other outlets throughout the country.
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