The Moral Compass

Stephen C. Horne

Stephen (Steve) Horne is a veteran executive who spent over 35 years at the intersection of high-stakes data and institutional leadership. Senior roles at Dun & Bradstreet, Dow Jones, and IBM built his career on one principle: helping leaders separate what is true from what is merely assumed.

In 2007, his statistical analysis began flagging deep structural stress in financial markets. While most were blinded by complex derivatives, Steve immersed himself in the underlying documents — finding them deliberately designed to discourage scrutiny.

Driven by duty to public accountability, he brought findings to the SEC and Congress. He served as Consultant to Congress during development of EESA and TARP, authored the Transparency Act of 2008, and testified eleven times before major committees as subject-matter expert on systemic fragility.

Today, Steve applies those same lessons to the American experiment — because the same forces that destabilize markets are now destabilizing our democracy.