President & CEO
Goodman Financial Corporation

Lectured November 3, 2011

Steve Goodman received his bachelor's degree from the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston in 1983. He was urged by two mentors—Dr.  Douglas C. Keister and John Pritzker (his boss at Hyatt Corporation)—to pursue a graduate degree. In 1985, he earned his master's in accountancy and taxation from UH's Bauer College of Business. While in school, he served as a teaching assistant for Dr. Keister's Hotel Accounting and Food & Beverage Controls classes from 1983-85.

Upon graduation, Steve worked for Ernst & Young and received his CPA certificate in 1986. He subsequently left to found two companies—Goodman Financial Corporation, a fee-only money management and financial advisory firm, and Merimark Corporation, a hotel real estate firm. In 1989, he received his credential as a CFP® from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. Over the last decade he has focused on Goodman Financial, which has grown to manage approximately $190 million in assets for individuals, trusts, pension funds, foundations and endowments. Merimark and its affiliates served as hotel real estate transaction specialists, asset managers, developers, owners and managers for hotel properties. Merimark exited those roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, coinciding with the growth of Goodman Financial.

Steve is a life member of the University of Houston Alumni Association (UHAA). He served as president of the Hilton College Alumni Association from 1991-93, as a board member of the UHAA from 1991-93, and a member of the UHAA finance committee from 1992-2006. In 1994, Steve received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Hilton College Alumni Association and UH recognized him as Volunteer of the Year. Goodman Financial currently manages the endowment funds of the UHAA. Steve and his firm also established the Douglas C. Keister Scholarship Endowment at Hilton College, as well as the Goodman Financial UH Tier One Scholarship Endowment.

Steve has also been active in the hotel community. In the 1990s, he served the Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Houston as secretary/treasurer, board member, and member of the investment and government affairs committees. At the state level, Steve served the Texas Hotel & Motel Association as a board member, as well as a member of its finance committee, from 1996-2000.