33 Facts About Steve Westly

Steven Paul Westly was born on August 27,1956 and is an American venture capitalist, entrepreneur, educator, and politician.

Steve Westly 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.

Steve Westly was defeated in the Democratic primary by California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who later lost to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the November 2006 elections.

Steve Westly was briefly considered for a cabinet-level position in the Obama administration.

Currently, Steve Westly is a Managing Partner at The Steve Westly Group, a clean technology venture capital firm which he founded.

Steve Westly married Anita Yu, an immigrant from Hong Kong, in 1997.

Steve Westly is the founding partner of the Westly Group, one of the largest venture funds in North America focused on smart energy, mobility, and buildings.

The Steve Westly Group has 22 of the world's largest energy, water, and transportation companies as investors, and has had nine IPO's including Tesla Motors where Steve Westly served on the Board.

The Steve Westly Group has had three companies go public over $8B valuations in 2021.

The Steve Westly Group has $750M under management and raised its fourth venture fund in December 2021.

In 1983, Steve Westly became the New Business Manager at Sprint Telecommunications.

In 1991, Steve 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 1997, Steve Westly joined eBay as one of its early executives.

Steve Westly began as Vice President and subsequently gained the title of Senior Vice President for Marketing, Business Development, and International.

Steve Westly retired from eBay in 2000 when he and his wife, Anita Yu, established the Steve and Anita Westly Foundation.

In February 2007, Steve Westly joined the board of Tesla Motors, a pioneering northern California manufacturer of electric cars.

Steve Westly is 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.

Steve Westly was elected State Controller of the California Democratic Party in 1983, Northern Chair of the California Democratic Party in 1985, and Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party in 1987.

Steve Westly ran for California State Controller in 2002 against State Senator Tom McClintock and won by a margin of 22,730 votes.

Steve Westly garnered 3,289,839 votes while McClintock won the support of 3,273,028 people.

Steve Westly's plan brought in a gross amount of $4 billion in revenue for the State of California.

Steve Westly 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.

Steve Westly is in favor of enforcing current laws requiring Californians to pay sales tax on Internet purchases.

On June 19,2005, Steve Westly announced his candidacy for California governor.

The race turned negative, highlighting environmental controversies surrounding Angelides' background as a real estate developer and Steve Westly's broken pledge to keep his campaign clean.

Steve Westly's candidacy was hurt by an unprecedented multi-million dollar independent expenditure by Sacramento real estate developer and longtime Angelides patron Angelo Tsakopoulos.

Steve Westly endorsed Angelides' candidacy at a unity breakfast the morning after election night.

Steve Westly is right here to tell you that we all need to vote for the Democratic candidate Phil Angelides in November 2006.

Steve Westly's name was figured in political speculation as a possible candidate for Governor to succeed Schwarzenegger in 2010.

Steve Westly supported Brown for governor and hosted a Brown fundraiser in October 2010.

Steve Westly was rumored to run again for Governor of California in 2018, however he did not file to run before the primary.

Mr Steve Westly is a frequent guest on CNBC and other business outlets discussing Tesla Motors and the future of Electric and Autonomous Vehicles.

Mr Steve Westly has had over 50 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.