Co-Founder of Source of Hope Foundation
A longtime leader in business and finance, Stephen Robert currently dedicates himself to promoting the welfare of people in need. An advocate for recognition of Palestine by the United Nations, he stated in a recent column published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that he believes acknowledgement of Palestine will result in more fruitful peace accords with the people of Israel. Mr. Robert serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, and as a Director of Millennium Promise, an organization that that provides humanitarian relief in Africa.
Out of concern for people who suffer from a lack of quality education, water, and health care, Stephen Robert co-founded Source of Hope Foundation with his wife, editor and publisher Pilar Crespi Robert. The New York organization reaches out to needy individuals in such countries as Colombia, Ethiopia, Israel, Uganda, Malawi, and Haiti. Among Source of Hope’s local efforts are the building of a new computer room and play room for families that receive help at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City. In addition, the organization plans to build a rapid-evaluation unit to relieve waiting times at a busy Manhattan emergency room in New York Presbyterian Medical Center.
Having joined Oppenheimer & Co. in 1968, Stephen Robert rose from his initial position as a Portfolio Manager of the Oppenheimer Fund to the role of President of the firm after just eleven years. The firm named him Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1983. A management buyout of the firm in 1986 resulted in Mr. Robert becoming Oppenheimer’s Principal/Owner, a post he held until the 1997 purchase of the firm by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He moved on to a new role in 2005 as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Institutional Management, LLC, before his 2008 retirement.
A graduate of Brown University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Stephen Robert led the institution as its Chancellor from 1998 to 2007.