James B. Stewart
Business Columnist, The New York Times Author
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author James B. Stewart combines the skills of an investigative reporter with the style and sensibility of a novelist, examining events in finance, law, and politics that shape American society. The San Francisco Examiner called him "the journalist every journalist would like to be," and The Daily Beast named him one of the 15 "most important writers on business and economics."
Stewart's New York Times column, “Common Sense,” appears weekly in the Business Day section. He provides skillful coverage of corporate America and Wall Street, often exploring the use and abuse of power at the highest levels of business and government. A former Wall Street Journal reporter and front-page editor, Stewart received two Gerald Loeb Awards, the George Polk Award for financial reporting, and a Pulitzer Prize with his deputy editor during his time at the paper.
As a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Stewart has written penetrating profiles of Blackstone Group's Stephen Schwarzman and Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader who lost billions of euros for Société Générale. His acclaimed cover story, "Eight Days: The Battle to Save the American Financial System," captured behind-the-scenes dealings that prompted unprecedented government intervention following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
The author of 11 books, Stewart’s New York Times bestseller, DisneyWar, about Michael Eisner’s reign at the company, won the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book. Heart of a Soldier was named the “Best Book about 9/11” by TIME magazine. His other bestsellers include Blood Sport and Den of Thieves, the definitive account of 1980s Wall Street insider trading scandals.
Stewart’s latest book, Tangled Webs: How False Statements are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff, analyzes America’s perjury trend, which he suggests is symptomatic of an ethical breakdown compromising the country’s judicial system as well as business, government, academia and medicine.
A Harvard-educated lawyer, Stewart is the Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School. In 2011 the New York Financial Writers Association honored Stewart with the Elliott V. Bell Award for lifetime contributions to the field of financial journalism.
The feedback to James's lecture was overwhelmingly positive. Folks raved about his clarity on complex topics, his humor, his honesty, and his ability to get past the all-too-typical ideological noise. He did our ethics center proud! California State University - Bakersfield
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com James B. Stewart
Suggested Topics Ethics and Leadership An unprecedented series of corporate scandals, many investigated by journalist James B. Stewart, have left Americans deeply troubled by the ethical lapses of top business leaders. What explains these ethical failures? And why does crisis also bring out highly ethical, even self-sacrificing behavior in some people, as exemplified on Sept. 11, 2001?
Common Sense: Adventures of a Wall Street Columnist
Corporate Governance & Transparency
Wall St. Today: Surviving the Financial Crisis and Beyond Mr. Stewart will take a look at the key interventions, how they did or didn’t work, and what we may learn from them. This would include proposed regulations on corporate governance and executive compensation. He also addresses how the economy has responded and where it's headed now. An intriguing look at leadership, corporate responsibility and economic prospects.
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com James B. Stewart
Books and Other Works Tangled Webs: How False Statements are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff Published 2012 Bestselling author James B. Stewart's newsbreaking investigation of our era's most high-profile perjurers, revealing the alarming extent of this national epidemic. Our system of justice rests on a simple proposition: that witnesses will raise their hands and tell the truth. In Tangled Webs, James B. Stewart reveals in vivid detail the consequences of the perjury epidemic that has swept our country, undermining the very foundation of our courts. With many prosecutors, investigators, and participants speaking for the first time, Tangled Webs goes behind the scene of the trials of media and homemaking entrepreneur Martha Stewart; top White House political adviser Lewis "Scooter" Libby; home-run king Barry Bonds; and Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff. The saga of Martha Stewart's conviction captured the nation, but until now no one has answered the most basic question: Why would Stewart risk prison, put her entire empire in jeopardy, and lie repeatedly to government investigators to save a few hundred thousand dollars in stock gains? Moreover, how exactly was the notoriously meticulous Stewart brought down? Drawing on the accounts of then-deputy attorney general James Comey and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, Stewart sheds new light on the Libby investigation, making clear how far into the White House the Valerie Plame CIA scandal extended, and why Libby took the fall. In San Francisco, Giants home-run king Barry Bonds faces trial due to his testimony before a grand jury investigating the use of illegal steroids in sports. Bonds was warned explicitly that the only crime he faced was perjury. Stewart unlocks the story behind the mounting evidence that he nonetheless lied under oath. Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme is infamous, but less well known is how he eluded detection for so long in the face of repeated investigations. Of the four he is the only one who has admitted to lying. The perjury outbreak is symptomatic of a broader breakdown of ethics in American life. It isn't just the judicial system that relies on an honor code: Academia, business, medicine, and government all depend on it. Tangled Webs explores the age-old tensions between greed and justice, self-interest and public interest, loyalty and duty. At a time when Americans seem hungry for moral leadership and clarity, Tangled Webs reaffirms the importance of truth. (Source: Amazon) Den of Thieves Published 1992 Den of Thieves tells, in masterfully reported detail, the full story of the insider-trading scandal that nearly destroyed Wall Street, the men who pulled it off, and the chase that finally brought them to justice.
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com James B. Stewart
New Yorker Cover Story: Eight Days: The Battle to Save the American Financial System September 2009 Stewart gives a day-by-day account of the events of September 12 - September 19, 2008, the week during which the U.S. financial system nearly collapsed, with a focus on the roles played by Henry Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve. With revealing interviews with the principal figures involved, Stewart shows how the fierce arguments and panicked dealmaking behind the scenes brought about unprecedented and controversial government intervention. One year later, the question remains: Did they make the right choices? Click here for more DisneyWar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom Published 2006 "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Whistle While You Work," "The Happiest Place on Earth" -- these are lyrics indelibly linked to Disney, one of the most admired and best-known companies in the world. So when Roy Disney, chairman of Walt Disney Animation and nephew of founder Walt Disney, abruptly resigned in November 2003 and declared war on chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner, he sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, corporate boardrooms, theme parks, and living rooms around the world-everywhere Disney does business and its products are cherished. DisneyWar is the breathtaking, dramatic inside story of what drove America's best-known entertainment company to civil war, told by one of our most acclaimed writers and reporters. Drawing on unprecedented access to both Eisner and Roy Disney, current and former Disney executives and board members, as well as thousands of pages of never-before-seen letters, memos, transcripts, and other documents, James B. Stewart gets to the bottom of mysteries that have enveloped Disney for years. DisneyWar is an epic achievement. It tells a story that-in its sudden twists, vivid, larger-than-life characters, and thrilling climax-might itself have been the subject of a Disney animated classic-except that it's all true. "DisneyWar is a compelling and often brilliant tale of how Eisner kept his own -- and everyone else's -- stress levels churning. To give Eisner the benefit of the doubt, his intent seems to have been to maintain an atmosphere of creativity while containing the roaring, toxic egos of the numerous barons of the magic kingdom. But in the end, it was Eisner's own ego that swamped and infected Disney." - Bob Woodward, The Washington Post
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com James B. Stewart
Biography
James Stewart is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of nine non-fiction books. His most recent is Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff, published by Penguin Press in April 2011. Other books include the national bestseller Den of Thieves, about Wall Street in the 1980s and DisneyWar, about Disney under Michael Eisner. Heart of a Soldier, published in 2002, was named the best non-fiction book of the year by TIME and will premiere as an opera in San Francisco in September 2011. Other best-sellers include Blind Eye, an investigation of the medical profession, and Blood Sport, about the Clinton White House. He also wrote Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction. Stewart's “Common Sense” column appears weekly in the Business Day section of the Times, and features his insights about corporate America and Wall Street. He is also a regular contributor to The New Yorker. “Eight Days,” his story about the financial crisis, was a 2010 finalist for a National Magazine Award in reporting. Formerly a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and Editor-at-Large for SmartMoney, Stewart has written penetrating profiles of Michael Milken, Blackstone Group's Stephen Schwarzman, and Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader who lost billions of euros for Société Générale. He holds the Bloomberg chair at the Columbia School of Journalism. Stewart is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for The Wall Street Journal articles on the 1987 stock market crash and the insider trading scandal. He is also the winner of the George Polk award and two Gerald Loeb awards. Blind Eye was the winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award given annually by the Mystery Writers of America. In 2002 Stewart received the Order of Lincoln, the highest honor given by the State of Illinois to an Illinois native or resident, and he has been awarded five honorary degrees. DisneyWar won the Gerald Loeb award for best business book of 2005. Stewart is also the author of the best-selling The Partners (1983) and The Prosecutors (1987). All of his books have been published by Simon & Schuster. Stewart is a graduate of Harvard Law School and DePauw University, where he serves on the board of trustees and recently completed a term as chairman. He is the former Page One Editor of The Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining The Journal in 1983, he was Executive Editor of American Lawyer Magazine and was a lawyer with the firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. He was born and attended public schools in Quincy, Illinois. He lives in New York City and rural Shawangunk, N.Y.
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com