Who

The wife of private equity honcho Steve Rattner, White is a high-profile Democratic fundraiser.

Backstory

The daughter of a well-to-do Massachusetts attorney, Patricia Maureen White has long had money on the brain: After graduating from the London School of Economics, she worked in international equity research at First Boston, and then at investment management firm Clay Finlay. But it wasn't her finance career that would turn her into a fundraising queen—it was her 1986 marriage to an up-and-coming financier named Steve Rattner, then a principal at Morgan Stanley. By 1991, White had quit her day job in favor of hosting $1,000-a-plate-and-up dinners for Democratic candidates at her and Rattner's sprawling Fifth Avenue apartment, events that attracted the high-powered and deep-pocketed. In 2001—after she'd already plumped up Democratic coffers considerably—then-DNC chair Terry McAuliffe recruited her to be the DNC's national finance chair. During her almost-five-year tenure—which coincided with one of the bleakest chapters in Democratic history—she raised millions for the futile electoral bid of John Kerry and for scores of other Democrats running for the Senate and the House. White raised $51 million for Democrats in 2005 alone.

Of note

In 2006, White stepped down as the Democratic National Committee's chief fundraiser, professedly because the job had worn her out; she was such an effective fundraiser that even her retirement party raised $1.3 million. (It also was one of the few events that both Bill Clinton and Al Gore have attended since they left the White House.) While she's no longer fundraising for the DNC, she's by no means quit Democratic fundraising: she served as finance co-chair for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential run.

Personal

White and Rattner have four children: Rebecca, Daniel, David, and James ("Izzy"). The family owns a 25-room apartment at famed 998 Fifth. (Henry Elghanayan is a neighbor, and fellow Democratic mega-donor George Soros used to live in the building.) White and Rattner spend weekends at an expansive estate on Martha's Vineyard.