Steve Preston

Steven C. Preston (* August 4, 1960 ) is an American politician. He joined in June 2008, the successor of Alphonso Jackson as Minister of Construction of the United States and was therefore the 14th holder of this office, which he held until the end of the term of U.S. President George W. Bush in January 2009.

Study and career

Steve Preston grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin on, near the border with Illinois. At his high school, he was class leader and president of the student council. His studies at Northwestern University he graduated in 1982 as Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with the degree summa cum laude. In 1985 he earned a master's degree from the Business School of the University of Chicago.

His activity in the financial sector began in 1982 with the First National Bank of Chicago. Later he moved to the investment bank Lehman Brothers, where he rose to become vice president. There it was his duty to advise multinational corporations in complex commercial and financial matters. Between 1993 and 1997 he served as Vice President of the company based in Colorado, First Data, where he succeeded in expanding the firm's presence in the capital markets and to improve relations with the financial industry. From 1997 he worked for ServiceMaster, a company listed in the Fortune Global 500 companies. He was there first Chief Financial Officer and later Vice- President with responsibility for strategic planning.

In government services

On 25 April 2006, Steve Preston of President George W. Bush to head the Small Business Administration appointed a federal agency to help small business enterprises. After confirmation by the U.S. Senate on June 29, he put on 10 July of the same year from his oath of office.

After taking office, Preston ran a reform to make the agency more efficient by more modern business models. When he took over the post, still waited more than 100,000 families who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, on government assistance to rebuild their lives again can. Within a few months it managed to Preston, to provide for the needed support. He also worked to bring about the Small Business Administration for similar cases in the future to better position. Another focus of his work was on the smaller businesses into the inner cities; their number should be increased again.

When he was nominated by President Bush as the new Minister of Construction, Steve Preston normal hearing had to undergo through the Senate. He received from both parties praise for his previous work. So praised Democratic Senator John Kerry, Preston worked hard to bring the Small Business Administration on the right course and to improve relations with the Congress.

Within the Ministry, Preston quickly gained recognition for its efforts to help those affected by the real estate crisis in the U.S. homeowners. In view of the biggest problems of this kind for decades, he put the main focus of its activities, first, that the respective families could keep their homes and the housing market had stabilized.