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New Chairman Knows the Neighborhood

Durham native Robert Steel to head the Board of Trustees

Robert Steel visits students at his old school, Watts Elementary

There's more to the man elected Saturday as the new chairman of Duke's Board of Trustees than "local boy makes good."

Robert Steel, 53, was indeed born in Watts Hospital to parents who both graduated from Duke, and he then attended Watts Elementary School, Brogden Junior High School and Durham High School. Many of his neighborhood friends near East Campus were the sons and daughters of Duke professors and physicians. His late father served on the city council and his mother remains active in the Durham community.

Next Steel enrolled at the university up the street, whose academic rigor he initially found daunting. But by junior year he was thriving, and he graduated as a history and political science major in 1973.

Steel left Durham to establish himself as an international investment expert, but he never forgot his local ties. Now he will be returning to town regularly to advise a new president, a new health chancellor and other leaders beginning to make their mark on a university that already has changed greatly since his own days as an undergraduate.

"Duke has grown and achieved in so many ways since I left as a student," he says. "However, I do believe that not everyone outside the Duke community has recognized our progress. While this might be disappointing, I do think it's a reality, which is why we need to maintain our commitment to creative excellence in all of the university's activities."

Among the new Duke leaders is Richard Brodhead, the Yale dean whom Steel helped attract to the university when he chaired the presidential search committee. Along with Sara Beale, the law school professor who served as the committee's vice chairman, they first met in a small Italian restaurant in Connecticut, beginning a conversation that led to Brodhead's unanimous selection in December 2003 as Duke's ninth president.

Steel says he has developed "a close and comfortable relationship" with Brodhead, whom he had not known previously, and now looks forward to "working with the senior leadership to help them formulate the right strategies. The board should be an intergenerational steward and provide wisdom. We're not supposed to manage things day to day."

Brodhead, in turn, calls it "a pleasure to get to know a person with Bob's experience and wisdom and deep devotion to this place. He is wise enough to know where he can help and where he should take a step back -- an ideal combination."

Steel joined Goldman Sachs shortly after graduating from Duke. Within a decade he was overseeing its European equities operation, earning an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago along the way. He worked in the London office of Goldman Sachs for several years, then settled in Connecticut and rose to become the firm's vice chairman.

Although Steel retained ties to Duke during this time, his life did not come full circle until Joel Fleishman helped pull him back into Duke's orbit. Steel had taken Fleishman's first class, and the law and public policy professor remembered him as "the brightest, quickest, most dedicated student -- and best writer -- in my undergraduate seminar on the legal process and social change."

When Fleishman called Steel in 1990 to rejoin the university, this time to lead a development campaign, Steel agreed. Other leadership assignments followed quickly. He headed the Duke Management Co., the university's investment arm, and in 1996 was elected to the Board of Trustees, where he served on the academic affairs committee and health system board, and engaged in issues ranging from international affairs to student concerns.

He became steadily more excited about the university's growth under President Nannerl O. Keohane, hoping he "could really make a contribution." Of special interest was the growing cooperation between Duke and Durham through programs such as the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, about which Steel said he was "impressed by what's been accomplished and by the prospect for even greater collaborations."

When Keohane announced in March 2003 her intention to step down, the board turned to Steel, its vice chair, to head the 19-member presidential search committee.

"It was a tremendous experience working closely with Bob Steel on the search," says the law school's Beale. "He has a razor sharp intellect, a truly remarkable work ethic and tremendous interpersonal skills. Despite the heavy responsibilities of his 'day job' as vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, he seemed to be working on the search full time. I began to believe he really didn't sleep, because I got frequent e-mails sent not only during normal business hours, but late at night or before 6 a.m. in the morning. When it came to making decisions, Bob was a master of the process of eliciting everyone's point of view, facilitating discussion and achieving consensus. His own judgments of Duke, of the candidates and of the process, were, in my view, extremely astute."

"He did a fabulous job on the search from the moment he was selected," agrees Nancy Allen, the rheumatologist and professor who also served on the search committee while chairing Duke's Academic Council. "I recall him visiting me in the Academic Council office prior to the formation of the committee. He asked about my ideas for the composition of the committee, the major issues facing Duke and my ideal for a new president. We had very similar thoughts on these and other matters. Bob displayed exceptional leadership of a diverse group of faculty, students, alumni, trustees and administrators. He led meetings with humor and efficiency, listened to opinions and kept us on track."

Although Steel recently cut back on his duties at Goldman Sachs, he remains busy with numerous activities beyond Duke, including teaching at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and serving with organizations that include the National Humanities Center, The After-School Corp. and the Aspen Institute.

Nonetheless, he clearly relishes the opportunity to assist Brodhead and other senior administrators in thinking through the future of Central Campus, the vitality of the health system and other critical issues. He praises outgoing Board of Trustees chairman Peter Nicholas for assembling a strong board, which Steel hopes to engage actively in planning Duke's future.

As for how it feels to become the first Durham native to hold the position since Duke became a university, Steel acknowledges that "if you look at my provenance, there was great potential for me to become involved with Duke." Steel describes himself as "incredibly honored" by his election and hopes his personal success in overcoming first-year academic challenges may inspire some current Duke students. Speaking from his home in Greenwich, which he shares with his wife and three daughters, he says "it matters a lot more how you finish than how you start."

What They Are Saying About Robert Steel

"Bob will be a terrific chairman of the board. He is well-versed on all the critical issues at Duke, has been a key contributor to all major decisions taken at the executive committee over the past few years and has outstanding relationships with trustees, faculty and administrators. Further, Bob has all his life been professionally associated with a leadership enterprise and knows first-hand what excellence is all about."

Peter Nicholas, outgoing board chairman

"He has always been there with a quick 'Yes' for everything Duke asked of him. He has brought his rare sharpness of mind, grace and serenity to each of those tasks."

Joel Fleishman, professor of law and public policy

"He grew up in Durham and knows the community well. He has intimate knowledge of the financial aspects of this university. He understands the academic issues and strives to learn more about the complexities of our endeavors. I know he will lead with integrity, humility, a willingness to listen to ideas and a gift for helping others to feel involved."

Nancy Allen, M.D., professor of rheumatology and immunology and outgoing Academic Council chair