Paul Wachter began his professional career as a clerk for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals. Thereafter, he served as a tax attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; an investment banker at Bear Stearns & Co.; and a managing director at both Kidder, Peabody & Co., and Schroder & Co. Incorporated. He founded his own firm, Main Street Advisors, in 1997.
Wachter graduated magna cum laude and Beta Gamma Sigma from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1978. He was a James Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar at Columbia Law School and is a member of the New York State Bar.
Past advisory and board responsibilities include trustee of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s and First Lady Maria Shriver’s blind trusts, and key advisor and strategist to Schwarzenegger’s 2003–2006 campaigns. He served on the board of directors at Time Warner Inc., Virgin America, American Skiing Company, and Ladder LLC. Wachter served on the board of managers of Beats Electronics LLC and Beats Music LLC. He was chair of the investments committee and a board member of the University of California, and was also the lead negotiator and structurer on LeBron James’s lifetime agreement with Nike.