Warren Stephens took control of his family’s investment bank in 2005 after the death of his father Jack, just as Wall Street entered a debt bubble that would nearly collapse the global financial system three years later.
But Stephens, Donald Trump’s pick to be the US’s next ambassador to the UK, was hardly a banker in the style of hard-charging rivals in New York.
While Bear Stearns and others collapsed in 2008 under hugely levered balance sheets, Stephens Inc, the firm founded by grandfather Witt during the Great Depression, survived thanks to its decision to carry debt of just two times the size of its equity.
One day after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Stephens circulated a memo to his employees. “Dad and Uncle Witt told me one of their corporate goals was to be in business the next day,” it read. “We are under no illusion that anyone would ride to our rescue.”
After navigating the 2008 crisis without a government rescue, Stephens expanded into lucrative private equity deals — and into London.
Now Stephens — if he is confirmed by the US Senate — will head back across the Atlantic, to be Trump’s eyes and ears in the UK, a crucial Washington ally.
The billionaire banker will hold a pivotal diplomatic role just as the US contends with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, trade disputes with Europe, and the spectre of confrontation with China. Stephens’ ambassadorship to the Court of St James’s will also put him at the heart of one of the US’s longest and most important alliances — just as London’s status as a global financial centre is being tested.
The sought-after post has been held by military leaders and elected politicians. John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren all went on to the White House. Recent ambassadors to the UK have been donors and friends of presidents — such as Woody Johnson, the colourful billionaire owner of the New York Jets football team.
Stephens, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, will also be the intermediary between two starkly different leaders: Trump and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
But Stephens and his company, which also employs his daughter and two sons, are no strangers to the UK. The bank opened an office in London in 2014 and has been an adviser recently to the local Hawksmoor restaurant chain on its sale.
Stephens has travelled to London regularly for decades to watch Tottenham Hotspur, the Premier League club he has supported since the 1980s, according to an interview he gave to Financial News.
Politically, Stephens has hardly marked himself out as a Maga loyalist.
The 67-year-old banker’s family bankrolled the presidential campaign of fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton in 1992. Later, Stephens funded traditional Republicans. He has given more than $18mn to a group backing Mitch McConnell, the veteran senator, and helped fund Nikki Haley’s presidential bid this year. After she dropped out, he gave $3mn to Trump’s campaign.
French Hill, a congressman from Arkansas who has known Stephens for decades, said Trump had picked a man who “believes strongly in the special relationship between the US and the United Kingdom”.
“One of the things he loves the most is reading and studying World War Two history,” Hill told the Financial Times. “So if the Senate confirms his appointment, he’ll come to London with a deep appreciation of the transatlantic partnership.”
“Warren Stephens knows what it takes to build a business and create value. He is a patriot and a thoroughly decent person. President-elect Trump could not have picked a better emissary to our closest ally,” said Paul Singer, founder and co-chief of Elliott Investment Management.
A top investor with ties to Stephens said that “Warren is southern royalty; everybody who wanted to get anything done had to kiss the ring. He will feel at home in London.”
A top western diplomat said Stephens was an upgrade on Johnson, Trump’s previous pick. He would also bring stability to the relationship between the two countries, they said.
“Stephens is a really decent, high-quality human being,” said the diplomat. “He will try to operate in the spirit of continuity of what has been done by the Biden administration.”
Stephens said in a statement to the FT that he was honoured by the nomination and would work to implement Trump’s agenda and “further strengthen the long-standing alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom”.
Stephens’ wealth — Forbes puts his net worth at $3.4bn — comes from lending to and advising the small and mid-sized businesses that have been an unheralded engine of growth in the US.
His bank advised Walmart when it went public in 1970 and benefited from the retailer’s growing might. In rare public appearances, Stephens expounds on the merits of American capitalism — and Arkansas.
He is known for fostering a competitive, hardworking culture inside his bank.
“It is a full-throated investment bank . . . They may be in Atlanta and Austin and Little Rock, but they work just as late as an investment bank in New York,” said one of Stephen’s close friends.
The banker’s friends say the graduate of Washington and Lee University, a liberal arts college in Virginia, treats his lieutenants like Warren Buffett — giving them leeway to operate autonomously but demanding strong results.
“It is a throwback, in a way, given it is family-owned and they have lots of different investment arms,” said the close friend.
“He’ll represent the country really well,” said Claiborne Deming, the former chief of Murphy Oil, who has known Stephens for more than 30 years.
“He’s an avid sportsman, great quail hunter and great golfer, and likes to have fun.”
Additional reporting by Joshua Franklin, Stephen Gandel and Felicia Schwartz
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