Stephen A. Oxman is a senior advisor at Morgan Stanley. He has over 45 years of professional experience in business, government, and law. At Morgan Stanley he focuses on investment banking relationships with certain key clients of the firm.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 1999, Oxman was a senior partner at Wolfensohn & Co., a private investment banking firm founded by James D. Wolfensohn in 1981. Oxman headed the firm’s practice in the telecommunications sector and took a leading role in its European practice. Upon Bankers Trust’s acquisition of Wolfensohn & Co. in 1996, Oxman became a founding senior managing director of BT Wolfensohn, the worldwide mergers, acquisitions, and corporate advisory arm of Bankers Trust.
In 1993, Oxman was appointed assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs by President Bill Clinton and served in that capacity through August 1994. He was the principal advisor to the secretary of state on U.S. foreign policy concerning Europe and Canada and had the lead responsibility within the U.S. government for the day-to-day implementation of that policy. His responsibilities covered 38 countries as well as NATO and the European Union.
From 1988 to 1993, Oxman was a managing director of the investment banking firm Wasserstein Perella & Co. and deputy chairman of Wasserstein Perella International. He was head of the firm’s telecommunications practice and was one of the senior officers responsible for the firm’s work in Europe.
From 1980 to 1988, Oxman was a litigation partner in the law firm Shearman & Sterling specializing in matters involving mergers and acquisitions, securities, antitrust, tax, and trade. He represented many leading U.S. and foreign corporations and foreign government–owned entities and was counsel to the investment bankers on a variety of major mergers and acquisitions.
During the Carter administration, Oxman was executive assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher. He was subsequently a consultant to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance concerning the Iran hostage crisis and served as the U.S. government liaison to the former shah of Iran. From 1973 to 1977, he was an associate with the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
Oxman has been actively involved with various nonprofit organizations. In March 2023, he rejoined Carnegie Corporation of New York’s board of trustees and its Investment Management Committee, having previously served on the board from 2011 to 2019.
Oxman is former chairman of the executive committee of the board of trustees of Princeton University, of which he is an emeritus trustee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the advisory council of the Hastings Center. He previously served on the board of trustees of the Robertson Foundation, chairing its investment committee; the advisory council of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton; and the board of directors of Good Shepherd Services.
In addition, Oxman has served for many years on the board of directors of the American Association for the International Commission of Jurists (AAICJ). His service on the board has included representing the organization as part of a human rights observer mission to South Korea and serving on the steering committee of the Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction, a project cosponsored by the AAICJ and the Woodrow Wilson School.
He holds an AB degree magna cum laude from Princeton University; a JD degree from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal; and a DPhil degree from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Oxman and his wife, Patricia, have three sons (Stephen, Gavin, and Matthew), three daughters-in-law (Sarah, Megan, and Sarah), and seven grandchildren. They live in Short Hills, New Jersey.
