Stephan F. Newhouse – 50th Reunion Essay

Stephan F. Newhouse

600 Coconut Palm Road

Vero Beach, FL 32963

sfnewhouse@gmail.com

Spouse(s): Judith Wynn Newhouse (1970)

Child(ren): James (1976); Christopher (1978); Stephan (1981)

Grandchild(ren): Finley, Harris, Jack, William and Olivia (ages 1 to 5 as of 2018)

Education: Yale, BA (1969); Harvard Business School, MBA (1975)

National Service: United States Navy LT [j.g.] 1969–1972

Career: Investment Banker: The First Boston Corp. (1975–79); Morgan Stanley & Co. (1979–2005), president (2003–05)

Avocations: History: Trustee of the Civil War Trust, that has preserved 48,000 acres of American battlefields threatened with development; Trustee (for 22+ years), the Pingry School (Basking Ridge, NJ); Member, Boards of various private and public companies

College: Pierson

I reported to Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, nine days after my Yale graduation. After three months of being taught how to be an officer and a gentleman, I was sent down to the Naval Supply Corps School on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens for six months of additional training.

When I left there, I took enough time before reporting to my first ship to marry my first love from high school, Judy Wynn, whom some of you will remember.

My first two ships were destroyers out of the Groton base in New London, Connecticut. The second one, which I served in for the next two years, was the USS Gearing (DD-710). On the same tin can was classmate Tom Emmons.

I look back on my naval career fondly. There were some great people, a lot of responsibility at an early age, and a steep learning curve. I was not, however, a big fan of that war—and three-plus years in one’s early 20s is a big hunk of the best years.

I got out too late to enter the Harvard Business School class of 1974, so Judy and I did the Europe on $5 a day routine until I could join the HBS Class of ’75.

Most people who did well at HBS went into consulting or investment banking. I did pretty well there, so I joined the First Boston Corporation in New York City, and in 1979 was recruited away by Morgan Stanley.

I did everything from corporate finance, to capital markets, to high yield bonds, to whatever. I spent a couple of years in London as chairman of Morgan Stanley International, covering Russia, emerging markets in eastern Europe, and China as well.

In 2003, I was named president of the firm, but there was disharmony in the senior management ranks and I resigned from the company in 2005, after 29 years.

The timing wasn’t bad because I missed the financial crisis, when managing a big investment bank involved making it smaller… fast.

Along the way, Judy and I had three wonderful sons of whom we are very proud, and we added our fourth grandson and first granddaughter in 2017.

My interests include history, and I have served on the board of the Civil War Trust for many years during which that organization has saved 48,000 acres of American battlefields from the developers’ bulldozers. I have also served on a number of corporate and educational institutions’ boards.

I have to say candidly that the developments at Yale over the past couple of years have concerned me. There are no “safe rooms” in the real world, and you do not win arguments by shouting your opponent down or banning him or her from the campus. Great universities are intended to prepare their students for life, not shield them from it. But then, I am from the ’60s—and in those days the mantra was “trust nobody over 30.”