Wilbur Ross and the Era of Billionaire Rule

On the last day of November, President-elect Donald Trump chose Wilbur Ross as his nominee for secretary of Commerce. A few hours later, Ross, a 79-year-old Wall Street multibillionaire, stepped into Gramercy Tavern, a tasteful restaurant for the Manhattan elite, off Park Avenue. A wood-beamed and chandeliered private dining room had been reserved for Navigator Holdings, a liquefied gas shipping company whose biggest investor is Ross’s private equity firm, WL Ross & Co. He and David Butters, Navigator’s chief executive officer, both arrived early. “Your interest is aligned to mine,” Butters recalls Ross saying. “The U.S. economy will grow, and Navigator will be a beneficiary.”

When the other guests arrived, they took turns congratulating Ross. As the executives enjoyed a menu that offers sherry-sauce sea bass and pear buckle, the mood was jovial, Butters says. One of their own could soon be running the cabinet department that is the conduit between government and corporate America. “It was like—we have a chance now,” Butters says. “We have a chance to make some differences.”