Steve Novick grew up in Cottage Grove, Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon and Harvard Law School. He spent nine years as an environmental law enforcement lawyer at the U.S. Justice Department, recovering $129 million for taxpayers in the Love Canal toxic waste case, and securing judgments against violators of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Since returning to Oregon in 1996, Steve has served as policy director in Governor Kulongoski's 2002 campaign; as communications director for Citizens for Oregon's Future, a non-profit dedicated to providing reliable information to the public on tax and budget issues; as legislative liaison for the Superintendent of Public Instruction; and as a policy analyst and spokesperson in numerous campaigns against ballot measures that threatened education, health care, public safety and services for seniors. From 2010 through 2012, Steve worked for the Oregon Health Authority and then the Health Insurance Exchange, helping to prepare for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Steve joined the Portland City Council in January of 2013. Portland has a curious form of government in which the Mayor assigns Commissioners to oversee City Bureaus. Mayor Hales assigned the Transportation Bureau to Steve. As Transportation Commissioner, Steve inherited a bureau with a history of innovation and success in active transportation policy, with a strong commitment to equity, walkability, and bikeability; a solid partnership with Tri-Met, the regional transit agency; and a terrific staff, which soon grew to include a new Director, Leah Treat. The bureau also faces a massive maintenance backlog, miles of unpaved streets, more miles of streets without sidewalks, and something of a "bike backlash" stoked by increasingly conservative local media. Steve believes that the future of transportation depends on our ability to make connections — both in the sense of strengthening our partnerships and articulating key connections for the public. Steve takes every opportunity to point out how much Portlanders spend on cars and health care, and how improved transit and active transportation can reduce those costs. Novick, a former longtime Sellwood-Moreland resident, now lives with his fiancée, Rachel Philofsky, and their Welsh Corgi, Pumpkin, in the Multnomah Village neighborhood.