John Steed: A Deep Sense of Obligation to Future Generations
Among the Community Environmental Council's (CEC) most devoted supporters is John Steed, who views CEC as a "vital, creative, and practical catalyst for helping us live high-quality lives in harmony with our environment, preserving one of our planet's most diverse biomes, and leaving the legacy of a livable world for our grandchildren."
John was born in Ogden, Utah, into a conservative family of community bankers. His father, John reports, used to say, "Financial freedom is a gift we give ourselves by living within our means." The Mormon Church sent John to Japan as a missionary, an experience that deeply impacted him and would influence his future career. Upon his return, after graduation from Brigham Young University, he served as a legislative aide to the late Senator Wallace F. Bennett in Washington, D.C. He went on to graduate from Harvard Law School and following graduation embarked on a legal career that eventually led him to the global firm of Paul Hastings LLP.
John met his wife, Suzanne, while working together on a case in Omaha, Nebraska. She had graduated from UC Santa Barbara and was creating a paralegal program for John's firm. During a frigid Midwestern winter, they found "a warm place for each other in their hearts" and became lifelong partners, celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in March.
Proficient in Japanese from his time as a missionary, John spent his career on the frontlines of economic globalization, initially assisting Japanese companies in building and operating factories in the Southeast United States. In 1996, Paul Hastings LLP relocated him to Tokyo, where he built a robust multijurisdictional practice helping U.S. investors restructure distressed debt caused by the bursting of Japan's financial bubble. John's work in the United States and Japan imbued him with critical insight into the workings of two highly sophisticated but very different financial and social systems.
While living in Tokyo and contemplating where they wanted to live in retirement, John and Suzanne found land and built a home in Santa Barbara. The birth of their first grandchild in 2007, and the burgeoning news about global warming and climate change, led John to a profound epiphany: our fossil-fueled economy of excess is unsustainable, damages our natural systems, and creates existential risks for our grandchildren. This realization sparked John's decision to accelerate his retirement from a career that supports globalization, and since 2010 he has dedicated his efforts to leaving the world in as good a shape as possible for our descendants.
John served on CEC's Board of Directors from 2013 to 2020, four years as President, and currently sits on the boards of the Fund for Santa Barbara, the National Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Advisory Council of the Environment and Human Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.
Always ready to back his beliefs with resolute action, John has designated a generous legacy gift to CEC. We are deeply grateful to him and Suzanne for their unstinting support.