Framed photographs of the 42nd president adorn virtually every surface except for windows overlooking the rush hour traffic crawling down Park Avenue.
Band, a broad-shouldered man with dark eyes and prematurely graying hair, appeared in many of the pictures. On paper, the job is a glorified gofer, but Band leveraged the position to build a filial bond with the leader of the free world. When Clinton left office in January , Band was one of the aides Clinton invited to go with him. Band took on a role that was equal parts fixer, gatekeeper, wingman, consigliere, and adopted son.
Officially, his title was counselor. Band and Clinton circled the globe in a private jet with a Rat Pack of billionaires that included supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, movie producer Steve Bing, and, infamously, Jeffrey Epstein. Before Clinton had quadruple-bypass surgery in , he dialed Band at the first sign of chest pains. There were years that Clinton spent more time with Band than with any other person—including Hillary and Chelsea.
Some view the split as a father-son story gone awry. Others see it as a cautionary tale. Like his mentor, he grew fabulously wealthy doing it. Even his path out of Clintonworld charted directly through Clintonworld. Teneo was essentially an arm of the Clinton Foundation in its early years. Band converted foundation donors to Teneo clients and encouraged Teneo clients to donate to the foundation. Those critics include the Clintons themselves, who offered a caustic assessment of Band when asked for comment.
He put the foundation at risk by leveraging a world-class philanthropy for his own financial gain. CGI accelerated the trend of corporations committing to fund social change or at least make it part of their PR campaigns.
