Stefanowski's tenure at General Electric began in 1994 where he held multiple senior roles through 2007. In 2003, Stefanowski became president and CEO of GE Commercial & Industrial Finance and then proceeded in 2004-2005 to serve as president and CEO of GE Telecom, Media & Technology Finance. Stefanowski worked at the GE Capital headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. From 2008 to 2011, Stefanowski was chairman and managing partner of 3i Group plc in London, England. He then served as chief financial officer of UBS, where he restructured the Investment Bank to meet Basel III regulatory requirements. From 2014 to 2017 he served as CEO of Dollar Financial Group in London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Political career
On September 16, 2017, Stefanowski announced that he would run for governor for the August 14, 2018 Republican primary. He campaigned on phasing out the state income tax, corporate income tax, reducing business entity taxes, and eliminating the gift tax and the estate tax, in addition to using zero-based budgeting and creating a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Stefanowski's campaign's first television commercials aired on January 24, 2018, in the Hartford-New Haven and New York markets criticizing Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy and promoting Stefanowski's economic plan co-authored with Reagan Economic Policy Advisory Board member Arthur Laffer. Stefanowski further criticized outgoing Governor Dan Malloy for spending over $15 million of taxpayer money on political campaigns and has refused to accept taxpayer money for his campaign. The Wall Street Journal reported that Stefanowski funded his campaign with a combination of fundraising and his own money, but that he had declined to state how much of his own money he would spend. Stefanowski received support for his economic plan from Laffer and Larry Kudlow. Additionally, he received endorsements from former Republican competitor Peter Lumaj, state representative Noreen Kokoruda, state senator Len Suzio, and former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, Middletown Planning and Zoning Commissioner Tyrell Brown, Middletown Board of Education member Edward Ford, Jr., and Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti. Following his nomination, on August 15, 2018, Trump endorsed the campaign. On April 3, 2018, Stefanowski wrote a letter to state Republican Chairman J.R. Romano that he would petition his way onto the August primary ballot by collecting signatures of 2 percent of registered Republicans statewide, or 9,081 signatures. Stefanowski was present to collect signatures at the state Republican Party convention on May 11–12 at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut where the party endorsed Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, but his name was not placed into formal nomination. On June 5, 2018, prior to the June 12 petitioning deadline, Stefanowski submitted over 12,000 signatures to Connecticut city and town registrars. On June 18, 2018, he became the second individual to petition to get onto the ballot in the state of Connecticut, and the first to do so in a gubernatorial election, following approval of 10,951 signatures from the Secretary of the State’s Office. Republican Peter Schiff was the first to petition onto a primary ballot in Connecticut during the U.S. Senate election in Connecticut in 2010. Stefanowski received an AQ rating from the National Rifle AssociationPolitical Victory Fund, or NRA-PVF, on July 30, 2018. The New York Times reported that Stefanowski “promised to fight further restrictions on guns” in Connecticut.
Gubernatorial election
On August 14, 2018, Stefanowski won the Republican nomination for Governor of Connecticut. He faced Democrat Ned Lamont and petitioning candidate Oz Griebel in the general election on November 6, 2018. Stefanowski lost the race and conceded on November 7, 2018.
