Peter G. Peterson is the former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and one of the founders of the Blackstone Group, one of the world's largest independent alternative asset management institutions. Peter Peterson was born in the United States on June 5, 1926. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Northwestern University in the United States in 1947 and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago in 1951. In 1962, he was selected by Life magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the United States under the age of 40. In 1971, he served as Assistant to US President Richard Nixon for International Economic Affairs; in February 1972, he was transferred to Secretary of Commerce, and concurrently served as Chairman of the National Productivity Council and Chairman of the U.S.-Soviet Business Council. In 1985, he and Steve Schwarzman formed a small mergers and acquisitions company, Blackstone.