USA Projects

Steve Oliver is President of the award-winning construction and development firm, Oliver & Company based in Richmond, CA, which has built over a thousand buildings in the Bay Area, including such arts institutions as the California College of the Arts in Oakland, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. Well-known in the Bay Area for being a major contemporary arts supporter, advocate, and civic leader, Steve is the former Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His contributions to SFMOMA have been numerous, perhaps most notably as Chair of Phase III of the New Museum Campaign in 1992, a role in which he was responsible for raising the final $5 million—a goal which he exceeded when he finished the campaign at $95 million. He has participated on the boards of numerous arts organizations, including the California College of the Arts; the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; the Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego; and as national Co-chair for PAC-American Arts Alliance. He also chairs the Community Foundation of Sonoma County’s Arts Council Taskforce. An avid art collector, Steve and his wife Nancy developed the Oliver Ranch in Northern California’s Alexander Valley, a working sheep ranch that is also one of the country’s most ambitious private collections of site-specific art. Today, it houses 17 commissioned works by national and local artists such as USA Gund Fellow Ann Hamilton, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, Judith Shea, Ellen Driscoll, Robert Stackhouse, and Ursula Von Rydingsvard. In addition to his diverse arts activities, Oliver has been instrumental in the health care field, serving as Chair of Alta Bates Health System, Vice Chair of the California Healthcare System, and on the Board of Sutter Health System, among other civic stewardship roles. Oliver received a BS from the University of California, Berkeley, and an honorary doctorate from California College of the Arts in 1998.