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Surviving Wall Street with Scott L. Bok

Greenwich Library is pleased to welcome Scott L. Bok to our Marx Family Black Box Theater for a discussion of his new book, Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy, and Timing. Bok will be joined by Jeffrey Z. Taufield, Greenwich resident and Vice Chairman and Partner of KekstCNC.

M&A dealmaker's real-life adventure tale tells the story of a turbulent period on Wall Street

Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy and Timing portrays the dramatic transformation of the investment banking business in recent decades through the tumultuous saga of one firm (Greenhill & Co., a specialist in mergers and acquisitions) and one man (Scott Bok, the longtime CEO of that firm). Written in the style of an adventure tale, this book is also a "coming of age" story for a naive young man who came to Wall Street—as thousands like him do each year—and managed to grab a front-row seat for a period of epic change.

Readers will gain an insider's perspective on:

  • A M&A firm's journey from start-up to wildly successful first-of-a-kind IPO and later to a sale to a major global bank

  • Numerous crises that rocked Greenhill and all of Wall Street, including the dot-com crash, global financial crisis and pandemic

  • How the creation of new firms and mergers or collapses of old ones have driven the evolution and growth of the industry

  • The author's role in a battle for control of the University of Pennsylvania that featured activist shareholder and corporate takeover tactics

A firsthand account of deals and dealmakers told from inside the boardroom, Surviving Wall Street will captivate those wanting to understand the dramatic evolution and expansion of Wall Street, as well as younger readers hoping to chart their own path to success in this Darwinian industry.

Copies of Surviving Wall Street will be available for purchase and signing through Diane's Books.

Date:
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Time:
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:
Marx Family Black Box Theater
Audience:
  Adult  
Categories:
  Author Talk     Business, Career, and Finance  
Registration has closed.

After earning degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences, Wharton School and Law School, Scott L. Bok began his career as an M&A lawyer in New York at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. He then spent more than a decade at Morgan Stanley, serving as an M&A banker in its New York and London offices.
In 1997, Bok moved to the independent advisory firm Greenhill & Co., then in its early days. He spent 27 years there, 16 of those as CEO, and in that time played central roles in the firm’s globalization, multiple acquisitions, a pioneering IPO, a leveraged recapitalization and ultimately its sale to the major global bank Mizuho. Alongside his Wall Street career, Bok has served in leadership roles in the nonprofit sector, including as board chair at the American Museum of Natural History, Prep for Prep, and the University of Pennsylvania. His new book, Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy and Survival (Wiley 2025), is both a memoir and an insider’s account of the evolution of the remarkable expansion and evolution of an industry that continued to shape our nation and our world.

Jeffrey Z. Taufield is Vice Chairman and Partner of KekstCNC and has served as a trusted strategic communications advisor to senior executive teams and boards of directors of publicly traded companies and private entities for over 40 years. He has extensive experience advising clients in matters such as: crisis communications, complex investor relations, CEO transitions, corporate governance, litigation and regulatory agency support, and M&A. Jeff was named to Lawdragon's “Global 100 Leaders in Legal Strategy and Consulting” guide for excellence in crisis communications and litigation support in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. He holds a B.S. in Finance from Hofstra University with postgraduate study in journalism at New York University. He lives in Greenwich with his family.