The Goodman Ethos: Take Risks, Explore, Be Alert to Opportunities

If Stephen H. Goodman ’65 was asked to impart career advice, his message would be simple: “Don’t worry too much. But be alert to opportunities and be willing to explore and take risks.”  

This philosophy has served him well as he moved seamlessly through a career spanning more than 50 years, encompassing positions in education, government, international banking and private industry.  

Goodman, the 2026 Alpern Award winner, was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a working-class family. He attended the public school system. “Fortunately, I had a very good guidance counselor who directed me to schools she thought would fit my interests and would also fit within the very limited budget that I had,” Goodman says. “She recommended Cornell and ILR.”  

Goodman came to the ILR School intending to become a lawyer, but changed his mind during his junior year, thanks, in part, to Professor George John Staller, a member of the Cornell Economics Department for 49 years. The shift to economics led Goodman to attend graduate school at Yale, where he focused on international, particularly Soviet-style economics, but the latter focus was derailed by his difficulty learning Russian. 

“I asked myself, ‘What part of the world is emerging, speaks English, and is likely to grow and be important in the future?’” Goodman says, “I chose Africa, which just shows you what a lousy forecaster I am, because if you name the two parts of the world that had negative growth for much of that period, they would be the Soviet Union and Africa.” 

Teaching in Zambia 

As he worked for his Ph.D., Goodman decided he wanted to gain overseas experience, so he applied to teach international economics at the University of Zambia, in Lusaka, Zambia.  

“My wife, Susan, and I spent a little over one year there,” Goodman says. “We loved it! It was a great opportunity, doing research and teaching at a new university while advising a new government on important policy choices.”  

At the end of Goodman’s assignment, he returned to Yale. 

Working at the CIA  

During his final year at Yale, Goodman attended the American Economic Association Meeting, where, among other research and academic institutions, the Central Intelligence Agency was meeting with prospective recruits. 

 “I had never conceived of going to work for the CIA,” Goodman says. “Almost as a lark, I signed up for an interview.” 

During the interview process, Goodman sensed that a job with the CIA would be more interesting than teaching. He was also drawn to the opportunity to conduct research on economic issues in developing countries, particularly in Africa.  

“That was a key divergence,” Goodman says. “My normal route would have been to go on and become a professor of economics, but instead, I decided to go to the CIA.”  

Goodman worked in the Office of Economic Research for six years, initially on policy-related economic issues for Africa, then on economic research relating to issues in international trade and finance in the new floating exchange rate environment. He provided research support in interagency discussions on international trade and financial policies.  

As a consequence of this work, Goodman came to the attention of, and was recruited by, William Casey, then president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. He joined the bank to head a new research and policy group. 

A Job at the Export-Import Bank of the United States 

Goodman began conducting policy analysis for the bank, focusing on international economic issues, particularly in countries where the bank was active. He also actively participated in interagency discussions and international negotiations on export finance. 

Following a change in administrations – he had been appointed to a political position – Goodman says, “I thought that I might be terminated. Anyway, I wanted to transition to the private sector after having worked for the government for 10 years.” 

A Change to the Singer Corporation 

Goodman took a position with the Singer Corporation, where he served as assistant treasurer international, overseeing financial matters for the international company. Eventually, he moved up to treasurer, then to senior director of business development, focusing on mergers and acquisitions. For seven years, Goodman worked on special projects, particularly acquisitions and divestitures. “When projects came along, I often ended up with the more complex ones, because I tended to think outside the box.” Goodman says.  

His final project at Singer was helping the company divest most of its international operations to become a U.S.-based aerospace company. 

“I didn’t want to work for a U.S.-based aerospace company, which had very little international operations,” Goodman says. “My interest was international economics.” 

 A Stint at Bankers Trust 

Over the years, Goodman had worked with Bankers Trust Company on a number of transactions and was offered a position at the bank to lead the international segment of their new mergers and acquisitions group. In that role, Goodman represented clients in the United States who wanted to expand or divest overseas, or overseas clients who wanted to come to the U.S., and assisted them with mergers and acquisitions.  After a year and a half in the job, which was based in New York City, Goodman relocated to Hong Kong to work with the bank. 

“My wife and I really loved it,” Goodman says.  

“It was a great change of culture for us. One theory that I have is that when you live in a place like New York, your friends are fairly homogeneous. The one year in Africa, we had a very diverse group of friends because there weren’t many young Americans. We had British friends, African friends and Dutch friends. In Hong Kong, it wasn’t quite the same because there were many more Americans. But again, we had the opportunity to broaden our circle to include people from very different backgrounds.”   

Back to Singer 

A friend Goodman made in Hong Kong, a Bankers Trust client, was James Ting. Ting had acquired Singer’s international operations in 1989 and was attempting to build a global electronics empire through mergers and acquisitions. In time, Ting came to Goodman, explained that Singer was in financial difficulty, and asked him to return to “help turn the company around.” 

“Unfortunately, I had misjudged the situation. My friend, Singer’s chairman and principal shareholder, turned out to be a poor manager, and possibly dishonest, rather than a great businessman.” Goodman says. “The problem was that things were going south, and Ting didn’t know how to handle that. The company had serious financial problems.”  

Roughly 21 months after Goodman returned to Singer, the company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. and into local bankruptcies in a number of other countries.  

“Bankruptcy is essentially a series of transactions to try to revive the company,” Goodman explains. “Creditors are placed in charge, and they need to figure out who is part of the problem and who is part of the solution. After a while, in Singer’s case, they concluded that I was part of the solution. They elected me as chairman, CEO and president of Singer.” 

After a number of years of successful operations, Goodman and the Board of Directors of Singer concluded that the shareholders, employees and customers of the company would realize greater value if the local Singer entities were sold to local firms with greater local expertise and flexibility than a multinational company.  

The last piece, the company’s stake in Singer India, was sold roughly three years ago. The Singer Corporation was then orderly liquidated. 

“Consequently, I didn’t have a job anymore. So, that was that.”  

Service to Cornell 

Goodman’s international career and interests are reflected in his service and interaction with Cornell.  

Over the years, he has sought to attract qualified international students to the university and has encouraged and supported their studies. Also, he and his wife established and financed a Global Scholars Fund and, subsequently, an endowment to help pay for ILR students’ living and research expenses in selected emerging-market countries. Those funds have supported students in Honduras, India, Vietnam and Zambia, among others.  

The Goodmans have also funded Cornell Tradition fellowships for ILR students who have shown a commitment to community service. 

 “Steve’s career has been international in scope,” says Alex Colvin, Ph.D. ’99, ILR’s Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and Martin F. Scheinman ’75, M.S. ’76, Professor of Conflict Resolution. “He has brought back to ILR a wonderfully global perspective and passion for encouraging and supporting student engagement in perspective-expanding international experiences.” 

Colvin will present Goodman with the 2026 Alpern Award on March 26 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. 

 Goodman’s views on international experience align perfectly with his theory of being alert to opportunities, willing to take risks and eager to explore. 

 “We need to motivate students to go beyond their comfort levels,” Goodman says. “I think many Americans don’t get exposed to, and don’t really care to know about, other cultures. And I think that does them and our country a disservice. When you give students the opportunity to go overseas and learn something, it makes them better citizens and more well-rounded individuals. 

“There are some subject matters that require early specialization and years of training, but for most students, I would argue that’s not necessary. Experience things. Broaden your circle. Don’t worry so much about your first job.  

“Just be ready for whatever might come.”