A family heritage of public service. A lifetime dedicated to helping others. A hard-working businessman with a sense of responsibility for the well-being of his community.

That's why Steve should be your next State Treasurer.

Creating Good Paying Jobs

Steve is President of Grossman Marketing Group in Somerville, a leading figure in numerous charitable organizations, and a distinguished political activist who has chaired the Democratic Party both in Massachusetts and nationally.

An honors graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar, he joined his father and uncle in their family business after completing his military service. Steve became its president in 1975. He represented the third generation of Grossmans to work at the business his grandfather, Maxwell B. Grossman, founded as Massachusetts Envelope Company a century ago.

Max Grossman’s legacy to his children and grandchildren was his belief that the family should devote itself to civic engagement as well as business life, a role dating back to Max’s involvement in the 1910 Boston mayoral campaign of the legendary John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald.

Steve grew Grossman Marketing Group’s revenues eightfold, entering new markets and repositioning the company to meet the challenges of an evolving economy. Steve knows what it’s like to meet a payroll and to keep a business going in tough times. Grossman Marketing isn’t one of those companies that Washington will label “too big to fail” and throw bailouts its way. It succeeds because of the family’s dedication to its customers, the energy and creativity of its employees, and just plain hard work - qualities he will bring to Beacon Hill.

Committed to the Community

The company also succeeds by investing in its people and in civic responsibility. Under Steve’s leadership, Grossman Marketing has been a nationally recognized model of a progressive workplace. As Business Week reported, “Grossman has given six months' leave – four paid in full – to a sales manager who adopted two children, three weeks' paid paternity leave to an art director, and four months' paid leave to… a project manager who suffered a brain aneurysm.” Time magazine hailed Steve for being “one of the few business owners” in the nation to testify in favor of paid-leave legislation. Grossman Marketing also has been at the forefront of environmentally sustainable business practices, winning Boston Business Journal’s 2009 Green Business Award.

Steve has always upheld Max’s commitment to civic involvement. He was a founding board member of Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) and helped formulate its mission of ensuring that state policy looks out for the needs of the middle class. As a Trustee of Project Bread, he helped the organization build a board that brought additional resources and innovative leadership to the anti-hunger organization. Steve is an advisor to ACCESS, a leading Boston provider of financial aid advice and scholarships, where he has focused on ways to develop the resources necessary to potentially help every high school senior in Boston and, in the near future, Springfield.

He has been chairman of the board of Brandeis University, trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, an overseer of the Dimock Community Health Center, an advisory board member of the Women’s Lunch Place, and former campaign chair of Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Steve was a founding board member of the Lenny Zakim Fund, which continues the work of building interfaith and interracial bridges started by his friend and colleague.

In awarding Steve an honorary doctorate in 2008, Peter Berenson, board chair of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, said: “Steve is a passionate advocate for social justice and religious and racial harmony and has a deep history and interest in politics. Not a day goes by when he isn’t somehow involved in feeding the hungry, healing the sick, [and] giving a voice to the oppressed.”

Helping Democrats Win

Politically, Steve worked closely with former Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis on his 1988 presidential campaign. In 1991, he was elected chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. He also played a leadership role in Bill Clinton’s successful run for the White House in 1992. In 1997, Clinton asked him to chair the Democratic National Committee, a post he held until 1999. When Steve stepped down to care for his ailing father, President Clinton called him “a major driving force behind the restoration of our party. His tireless leadership and self-sacrificing devotion have inspired all of us Democrats to work even harder toward our common goals.”

As a party leader, Steve established a track record as a reformer and builder – working aggressively to implement effective management and financial controls while at the same time empowering more activists to participate in political life. He helped found the Coalition for a Democratic Future to involve college students and young people in the party and worked tirelessly to create a level playing field for women candidates. A generation of future leaders in Massachusetts got their start thanks to Steve’s mentoring.

Steve ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002. When Steve announced his candidacy, Senator Ted Kennedy told reporters: “Steve's leadership, ability, dedication, and skillful work for the Massachusetts Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee have contributed immensely to the success of our party and its ideals for all Americans.”

His wife, Dr. Barbara Wallace Grossman, a theater historian, author, and director, is an associate professor at Tufts University and chairs its Drama and Dance Department. They have three sons, David, Ben, and Josh. David and Ben are executives at Grossman Marketing Group, continuing the family’s role at the company into a fourth generation.