FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
 
Media Contacts
Stephanie Báez 
sbaez@globalstrategygroup.com 

Victoria Dellacava 
vdellacava@globalstrategygroup.com 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (February 3, 2022) – The Black Economic Alliance (BEA), a nonpartisan group of Black business leaders, issued the following statement on the Senate confirmation hearings of Dr. Lisa Cook, Dr. Philip Jefferson, and Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve in key leadership roles at the Federal Reserve: 

“The U.S. Senate has the opportunity to make history by confirming Dr. Lisa Cook and Dr. Philip Jefferson to serve as Governors on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Sarah Bloom Raskin as Vice Chair for Supervision. The U.S. Senate can help ensure that the leadership table of our nation’s central bank and preeminent financial regulatory authority includes input from a vast set of lived and professional experience that is directly relevant to the most urgent problems the U.S. financial system and labor market face.  

“We commend President Biden for nominating these impeccably skilled and accomplished trailblazers. Collectively, their deep expertise will shape regulatory and monetary policy that will help close the racial wealth gap while strengthening the U.S. economy and America’s global competitiveness. Should the Senate undertake its responsibility without obfuscation, the Federal Reserve’s new leadership will be the most diverse in its 108-year history, with a majority of women for the first time and two Black Governors serving simultaneously.” 

Background on Dr. Lisa Cook, Dr. Philip Jefferson, and Sarah Bloom Raskin: 

Dr. Cook is one of the country’s most esteemed macroeconomists as well as an international authority on banking systems, economic growth, innovation, markets, and global finance. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Cook is a tenured professor at Michigan State University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis and the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Dr. Cook’s outstanding experience in banking, finance, economic, and policy circles would help close the gap between Main Street and Wall Street, ensuring the country’s financial system delivers for all stakeholders. Dr. Cook has also served on the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House and as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  

Dr. Jefferson represents the rare combination of an economist who is an expert in monetary policy and macroeconomics while simultaneously being well-studied on poverty and economic inequality. He is the chief academic officer at Davidson College in North Carolina. Dr. Jefferson holds the Paul B. Freeland endowed professorship in economics at Davidson and an endowed professorship at Swarthmore College. He has also taught at Columbia University and the University of Virginia, in addition to Swarthmore, and worked as a visiting research economist at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as an economist for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in Washington and the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.  

Sarah Bloom Raskin is the Colin W. Brown Distinguished Professor of Law and the Director of the Global Financial Markets Center at the Duke University School of Law. She served as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, previously served as a Senate-confirmed Governor of the Federal Reserve Board and member of the Federal Open Market Committee, where she helped conduct monetary policy and promote the nation’s financial stability. Raskin served as Commissioner of Financial Regulation for the State of Maryland, where she was responsible for regulatory oversight of the state’s financial institutions.  Raskin has worked across public and private sectors in legal and regulatory capacities throughout her distinguished career, centering on financial institutions, financial market utilities, consumer protection issues, financial regulatory tools, and resolution planning.

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About the Black Economic Alliance  

The Black Economic Alliance is a coalition of Black business leaders and allies committed to driving economic progress for the Black community through public policy, advocacy, and engagement with government and business leaders. Led by a board that includes executives from a range of industries including media, finance, pharmaceutical, nonprofit, and tech, BEA uses its collective power and business acumen to advance policies that will improve work, wages, and wealth for Black Americans. | https://bea.briteweb.com/