Lessons Learned: Steven H. Kasoff

Steve Kasoff was employed at Elliott Management Corporation from 2003 until 2020. His responsibilities centered on developing the structured products and real estate groups at Elliott. He was made senior portfolio manager, a member of the firm's management committee, and equity partner. Kasoff has extensive experience in the origination, trading, and management of structured products such as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and mortgage-backed securities, including earlier posts at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers. He earned his BA in economics from Yale College and his MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2016, Kasoff joined the advisory board of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management. After retiring from Elliott in 2020, he began to work with the Yale Program on Financial Stability (YPFS). This Lessons Learned summary is based on two interviews of Kasoff by YPFS and is part of an investigation he spearheaded into the subprime securitization boom before the financial crisis--the Inside the CDO Machine project--which includes interviews with financial industry practitioners. The complete Inside the CDO Machine project materials can be accessed on the YPFS Lessons Learned website: https://som.yale.edu/centers/program-on-financial-stability/lessons-learned-oral-history-project.