At 10 years old, Steven Shapiro thought he had his life planned out. He was going to be pre-med in college, go to medical school and then settle down as a practicing physician.
This all changed during his senior year as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. Even though he had completed his pre-med requirements, he decided to pursue his passion for history and go law school at Penn. Today Shapiro manages $22 billion as cofounder of GoldenTree Asset Management LLC. He gave a talk called “A Happy Guy in Distressed ... From Pre-Med to JD to Distressed Investing,” at Penn Law School on Tuesday about his diverse career path
“Maintain optionality in life,” he emphasized.
After receiving his JD, Shapiro worked as a bankruptcy lawyer at Stroock & Stroock & Laven and enjoyed the finance part of his job. He left and eventually became the director of the Media and Telecommunications Research at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce .
He later founded GoldenTree Asset Management and currently oversees GoldenTree’s distressed investments and media and communications investments .
At GoldenTree, he has tried to create an environment where people share the same values and prioritizes mental health. For him, success and productivity stems from maintaining a healthy work environment.
Despite the $22 billion, Shapiro also insisted that it is important to consider more than financial gain when choosing a career.
“Everybody has different ends. Whether your job is in banking or law, your job is only a means to an end. Money is the worst reason to choose a job, and it should not be an end you strive for,” he said.
Logan Wyman, a third year law student, agreed with Shapiro and enjoyed his talk.
“It was a great discussion of both the applicability of a law degree to a complex and interesting industry, as well as the importance of personal values and goal setting in a successful professional career.”
