Steve Westly

Steve Westly is an American venture capitalist, entrepreneur, educator, and politician. He was the state controller of California from 2003 to 2007 and was one of the top candidates in the Democratic primary for Governor of California in the 2006 election.

During the 2008 Presidential Election, Westly served as California campaign co-chair for Obama for America. Westly was briefly considered for a cabinet-level position in the Obama administration.

Currently, Westly is a managing partner at The Westly Group, a clean technology venture capital firm which he founded in 2007. The Westly Group was listed 79th out of 350 on Time Magazine's 2025 list of America's Top Venture Capital Firms.

The company has successfully raised five venture capital funds and has $825 million in Assets Under Management (AUM). The company has 30 of the world's largest strategic companies as investors including Duke Energy, VW/Audi, State Farm, Bridgestone, ABB, and American Electric Power. The Westly Group has had nine portfolio companies go public including four multi-billion dollar exits at Tesla Motors, Procore, Luminar, and Sentinel One. The company has offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

Steve Westly served as a lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business from 1991–1995. He returned to teach a new course at Stanford Graduate School of Business called "The Policy, Politics, and Finance for Solving Global Warming" 2020 to 2024 and continues to teach there today.

Westly is also a frequent commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg, Schwab Network, and other outlets. He has done over 100 interviews on live national television on Tesla, the future of electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, new battery technologies, and the rise of the Chinese auto industry.