CEO, Copia Global
Search every verified Tim Steel interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Tim Steel, CEO of Copia Global, has spoken about his career transition from investment banking at Goldman Sachs to impact investing, stating that he "realized that I didn't want to sit behind an Excel model for most of the day" and found a role investing Goldman's balance sheet into opportunities that could "do good while doing well." In his capacity as a neurosurgeon, Dr. Timothy Steel has discussed a range of medical topics, including the advantages and disadvantages of robotic surgery, the challenges of operating on obese patients, and the role of MRI scans as a preferred investigative tool. He has also commented on the lack of evidence linking mobile phones to brain cancer, stating that "the type of radiation that's emitted by the digital devices has never been shown to cause tumor development in any organism or any animals." Steel has also addressed workplace and lifestyle health issues, noting that standing in one spot for hours is "significantly less healthy than sitting" and advising that those with sedentary jobs should incorporate structured exercise and movement throughout the day. Regarding children's use of digital devices, he observed that children are "incredibly better educated by mobile phones than ever before" but expressed concern about excessive screen time leading to insufficient physical activity. In his role at Copia Global, Steel has described the company's focus on serving underserved consumers in Africa through a mobile commerce platform, emphasizing the importance of building agent networks and understanding consumer needs to achieve sustainable growth.
“I worked in finance — I started investment banking at Goldman Sachs there in New York and that was kind of the ringer for me.”
“I was able to work on some really interesting deals and, more importantly, built some fantastic relationships.”
“I realized that I didn't want to sit behind an Excel model for most of the day and so I found a different group within Goldman that was investing Goldman's balance sheet into impact investing opportunities.”
“We were taking private equity, debt, tax credits — any number of financial instruments — and finding places where we could essentially do good while doing well.”
“A good pillow is — and again when it comes to a pillow there's no one pillow that fits everyone; it all depends on how you sleep and as long as you're comfortable with how you sleep you know then you're on the right pillow.”
“Pillows that don't allow you to move around or don't allow contouring are generally not that beneficial because they keep your neck in one position all night and that usually means patients will wake up with muscular neck pain in the morning.”
“If you're someone who sleeps on their side you want a pillow that keeps your neck in a relatively neutral position — if it's too big it will push the head too much; if it's too narrow their head will collapse to the side.”
“You want a pillow that will keep you in a neutral position yet allow you to move during the night.”
“Whether or not that pillow be made of foam, made of feathers, made of plastic, made of a board doesn't really matter — it really depends on you, but as long as the neck is well supported and you can move around, that should be the best pillow for you.”
“How do we address the mental health aspects of dealing with people with chronic back pain? That really depends on where the mental health issues are arising from, because we can broadly categorize people with mental health issues and chronic back pain into two groups: patients who have pre-existing mental health issues...”
“When patients have pre-existing mental health issues the back pain will obviously make them worse, so what we try and do is rectify the back pain issues, give positivity, but whether or not we can address all those issues often we can't.”
“If it's been a prolonged period of time of chronic back pain, their whole social life, their whole working life, their whole family situation may have been compromised by the chronic back pain problems; certainly patients will often complain of feeling worthless — they can't work properly and it interferes with their m...”
“One of the problems is depending on how much medication then becomes an issue because patients who are on a lot of medication with chronic back problems we can address surgically often whether the cause of the back pain, but we then have to address the medication issues and patients after surgery coming off medication,...”
“Ideally, if we can fix the problem we fix the medication issues we can fix the mental health issues as well.”
“There's been a trend in the last few years to having desks that one can sit at or stand at, and the whole issue of sit‑stand desks evolves from people who have chronic disc herniations — a lot of people with disc herniations are more uncomfortable sitting, so that's led to the idea that if you're going to spend hours s...”
Leaving the comfort of Excel models behind, one professional found purpose in directing Goldman Sachs' balance sheet towards ...
Many pillows are marketed as being suitable for spinal comfort, and yes, I do believe a pillow can impact your spinal health and ...
The impact of mental health issues on individuals with chronic back pain can vary depending on the origin of these issues.
Contrary to popular belief, having a standing desk at work does not guarantee a healthier spine when compared to sitting desks.
Do you have a sedentary job? Are you spending 6-8 hours a day at your desk? Having a predominantly sedentary job does have ...
Do obese patients typically face greater difficulty with surgery? The simple answer is, yes, they do. When working with an obese ...
In the future I believe that an MRI scanner will be the investigation tool of choice. I think we can expect that in regards to spinal ...
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans have revolutionised medicine. MRI's work by utilising magnets and radio waves to ...
Previously I've spoken about the benefits of robots in the theatre, specifically regarding spine surgery. However, outside of spine ...
I'm sometimes asked to what extent robotic technology should be relied upon in Surgery. And is technology likely to eventually ...
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