Robert K. Steel

Overview

On July 9, 2008, Wachovia"s Board of Directors appointed Robert K. Steel as Wachovia"s Chief Executive Officer and President and elected Mr. Steel to Wachovia"s Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Steel, 56, served as the Under Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury for Domestic Finance since October 2006. In that capacity, he served as the principal adviser to the Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury on matters of domestic finance and led the Treasury Department"s activities with respect to the domestic financial system, fiscal policy and operations, governmental assets and liabilities, and related economic and financial matters. Prior to joining the United States Department of the Treasury, Mr. Steel was employed at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., which he joined in 1976, and served as a Vice Chairman from April 2002 until his retirement from Goldman Sachs in February 2004. Upon his retirement from Goldman Sachs he assumed the position of advisory director for the firm and then senior director in December 2004. As Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Steel had management responsibility for the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division and the Equities Division. He served as co-head or head of the Equities Division from 1998 until his appointment as a Vice Chairman at Goldman Sachs in 2002. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Steel was responsible for all of the firm"s institutional equities in the United States, and from 1988 to 1994, he was responsible for the firm"s Equities Division in Europe. From February 2004 to September 2006, Mr. Steel served as a senior fellow at the Center for Business and Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Mr. Steel received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his MBA from the University of Chicago. Mr. Steel has been appointed to the Executive Committee of Wachovia"s Board of Directors. Mr. Smith, who is now deemed to be an independent director of Wachovia under applicable rules of the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") and the Securities and Exchange Commission since he is no longer interim Chief Executive Officer, has been appointed to the Board"s Audit Committee and Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee.