Chair, U.S. Vote Foundation; Former Chair, Republican National Committee
Michael Steele is President and CEO of The Steele Group, a company he started in 1999 where he focuses his skills on communications strategies from policy to legal. When he was elected Lt. Governor of Maryland in 2003, Michael Steele made history as the first African American elected to statewide office; and again, with his subsequent chairmanship of the Republican National Committee in 2009.
As chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele was charged with revitalizing the Republican Party. A self-described “Lincoln Republican,” under Steele’s leadership the RNC broke fundraising records (over $198 million raised during the 2010 Congressional cycle) and Republicans won 63 House seats, the biggest pickup since 1938. His commitment to grassroots organization and party building at the state and local levels produced 12 governorships and the greatest share of state legislative seats since 1928 (over 760 seats).
As Lt. Governor of Maryland, Mr. Steele’s priorities included reforming the state’s Minority Business Enterprise program, improving the quality of Maryland’s public education system (he championed the State’s historic Charter School law), expanding economic development in the state and fostering cooperation between government and faith-based organizations to help those in need.
Mr. Steele’s ability as a communicator and commentator has been showcased through his current role as a political analyst for MSNBC. He has appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. In addition to his work in television, Mr. Steele co-hosted the popular daily radio program, Steele & Ungar on the POTUS Channel on SiriusXM and is the current host of The Michael Steele Podcast.
Mr. Steele’s writings on law, business and politics have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Hill.com, The Grio.com, Politico.com, The Root.com, BET.com, Townhall.com, The Journal of International Security Affairs and Catholic University Law Review, among others.
He is the author of Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda, which is a call to arms for grassroots America and co-author of The Recovering Politician’s Twelve Step Program to Survive Crisis.
Born at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Mr. Steele was raised in Washington, DC. Upon graduating Johns Hopkins University (‘81’), he entered the Order of St. Augustine where he studied for the priesthood. He is a graduate of Georgetown Law Center (’91), and currently serves as Holder of the Chair for the Gwendolyn S. & Colbert L. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University.Mr. Steele also serves as Chairman of the US Vote foundation; and was an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership, a University of Chicago Institute of Politics Fellow and a Senior Fellow at Brown University’s Institute for International and Public Affairs. He serves on numerous advisory boards in the areas of business and election reform.