Bannon attended Benedictine College Preparatory, a private, Catholic, military high school in Richmond, Virginia graduating in 1971.
After graduation from high school, he attended Virginia Tech and served as the president of the student government association.
Bannon graduated from Virginia Tech in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in urban planning. He later earned a master’s degree in national security studies from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. In 1985, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree with honours from Harvard Business School.
Bannon was an officer in the United States Navy for seven years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, serving on the destroyer USS Paul F.
Upon his departure he was ranked as a lieutenant (O-3).
After his military service, Bannon worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department. In 1987, Bannon relocated from New York to Los Angeles, to assist Goldman to expand their presence in the entertainment industry. He stayed at this position with Goldman in Los Angeles for two years, leaving with the title of vice president.
In 1990, Bannon and several colleagues from Goldman Sachs launched Bannon & Co., a boutique investment bank specializing in media.
In the 1990s, Bannon ventured into the entertainment and media industry. He became an executive producer in the Hollywood film and media industry. Bannon produced 18 films, from the 1991 Sean Penn drama The Indian Runner to Julie Taymor’s 1999 film Titus. Bannon became a partner with entertainment industry executive Jeff Kwatinetz at the Firm, Inc., a film and television management company.
On August 17, 2016, Bannon was appointed chief executive of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign; he left Breitbart, as well as the Government Accountability Institute and Cambridge Analytica, to take the job, and shortly after the chairman of the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort, was dismissed.

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