Never having run more than a mile in his life, Steve Funk signed up for the New York City Marathon entrance lottery on a whim.
So when he found out he’d won a lottery entrance, Funk started training immediately. He prepared for months, but as the day of the race came, the farthest he’d ever run was thirteen miles, half the distance of the marathon. “At the starting line, the energy is palpable, and you can feel this buzz,” he says. Funk attributes his finishing all twenty-six miles that day to the energy of the crowd, which included a marching band and thousands of people waving signs along the route.
“It’s one of the most vivid memories I have,” he says. “No single event, I think, represents the culture and what New York City stands for like the marathon does.” Funk ran the marathon the following year and looks forward to running it again this year.
Funk first visited New York City during a summer break while attending BYU. After seeing a friend there who worked in investment banking, “I immediately was hooked on the energy and the city,” he says.
Returning to BYU Marriott, Funk threw himself into his studies, joining the investment banking club and learning as much as he could to prepare for a career in the field. It paid off: during summers, he found internships with Peterson Partners, a private equity firm near Salt Lake City, and with Goldman Sachs in New York City. Following his 2014 graduation with a degree in finance, Funk accepted a full-time position at Goldman Sachs.
His first few years as an investment banker were challenging. Funk remembers cramming a lot of learning into his hours on the clock. Looking back, he says, those early lessons led to “a combination of a positive attitude and hard work” that has helped him successfully tackle challenging assignments.
Almost every morning at six o’clock, Funk is on his bike doing laps around Central Park alongside other members of a social cycling club. He also stays involved with athletics through a nontraditional outlet: nonprofit work. A board member of the D10, an organization that raises money for pediatric cancer research at a local cancer center, Funk helps organize a yearly decathlon athletic competition among business professionals, with the winner earning the title of Wall Street’s Best Athlete.
During his time at the D10, Funk has helped raise more than $10,000 toward the cause. He enjoys using his skills in the nonprofit sector and seeing the generosity of others. Giving back, says Funk, is a hallmark of New York culture that he loves. “People work extremely hard,” he says, “but people are also extremely generous.”
Funk left Goldman Sachs in 2017 to become an associate at a private equity firm, where he evaluates businesses from many different industries for private investments and also monitors and manages existing portfolio companies. For Funk, the work is as fulfilling as it’s ever been. “When it all comes together and you also are able to propose a transaction or make an investment, it’s a great feeling,” he says.
