Steve Toben is the principal of Toben Consulting, an advisory service for donors and family foundations. Steve specializes in support to philanthropic families addressing governance and programming issues and brings a mediator's perspective to his work with families. 

From 2003 to 2022, Steve served as president of the Flora Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California. Earlier, Steve served as a program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where he directed the foundation's programs on conflict resolution and the environment. He is a former chair of the Environmental Grantmakers Association and a co-founder of the Peace and Security Funders Group. Steve has served on several nonprofit boards of directors including Innovations for Poverty Action in New Haven, CT, the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation in New York, and the Headwaters Basin Project in Soda Springs, CA. Steve began his career as a law clerk for the Hon. Sam J. Ervin III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Steve practiced law for eight years. He is a former member of the Portola Valley Town Council and twice served as mayor. 

Steve is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and Yale Law School.