Pelosi, House Democrats to Host Economic Forum on Friday
'Restoring the American dream for millions of our nation's working families has been a central priority for House Democrats,' Pelosi said. 'The attention and efforts of Congress must be focused on the strains Americans are feeling - the spiraling price at the pump and for home heating, the real consequences of the mortgage foreclosure crisis, and the falling purchasing power of their paychecks. At this forum, we will bring together the leading minds on these issues with the legislators who are prepared to make a difference.'
The forum is the latest in an ongoing effort by the 110th Congress to deliver a New Direction for Economic Security. Already this year, Congress has passed and the President has signed into law: a new federal minimum wage giving millions of Americans a pay raise; the largest college aid expansion since the GI Bill in 1944; scholarships for a dramatic increase in math, science, engineering, and technology teachers to train a 21st century workforce; a budget blueprint that puts America on a path to doubling funding for basic research and development to drive American innovation.
The New Direction Congress is working to reach bipartisan agreement to address the subprime lending crisis and predatory loan practices that are threatening to force hundreds of thousands of American families out of their homes, to lower energy costs through landmark energy security legislation that will help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and to provide health insurance for 10 million children of families struggling to make ends meet.
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Among those invited to attend the forum are:
Jane D'Arista - Ms. D'Arista is the Director of Programs for the FinancialMarketsCenter. Before joining the Center's staff, she was Chief Finance Economist for the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the House Energy and Commerce Committee from 1983 to 1986. Before that, she served for five years as an international analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and for 12 years as a staff member of the House Banking Committee. Her publications include The Evolution of U.S. Finance, a two-volume set published by M.E. Sharpe in 1994.
Laurence D. Fink - Mr. Fink is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, he was a member of the Management Committee and a Managing Director of The First Boston Corporation. Prior to BlackRock, he also started the Financial Futures and Options Department and headed the Mortgage and Real Estate Products Group. Mr. Fink earned an MBA degree with a concentration in real estate from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1976 and a BA degree in political science from UCLA in 1974.
William Hambrecht - Mr. Hambrecht is the founder and CEO of WR Hambrecht & Company, an investment company headquartered in San Francisco. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for The American University of Beirut and is on the Advisory Investment Committee to the Board of Regents of the University of California.
Warren Hellman - Mr. Hellman is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Hellman & Friedman, LLC, a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm. Since its founding in 1984, Hellman & Friedman has managed over $5 billion in private capital and is a 10% investor in NASDAQ. Mr. Hellman is also a director of NASDAQ, a member of the San Francisco Committee on Jobs, and a member of the University of California Haas Business School Advisory Board. Before founding Hellman & Friedman, Mr. Hellman served as the President and Chairman of the Lehman Corporation.
Eugene A. Ludwig - Mr. Ludwig is the Founder and CEO of Promontory Group, a suite of companies offering products and services to assist banks and other financial businesses. Prior to founding Promontory, he was Vice Chairman and Senior Control Officer of Bankers Trust / Deutsche Bank. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Ludwig headed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and also served as Chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). Prior to becoming Comptroller, he was a partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling, specializing in financial services regulatory matters.
Lawrence Mishel - Mr. Mishel is the President of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in 1987. As EPI's first research director, then as vice president, and now president, he has played a significant role in building EPI's research capabilities and reputation. He has researched, written, and spoken widely on the economy and economic policy as it affects middle- and low-income families. He is principal author of a major research volume, The State of Working America (published every even-numbered year since 1988) which provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. labor market and living standards.
Felix G. Rohatyn - Since 2006, Mr. Rohatyn has served as the Senior Adviser to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. During the 1970s, he was the chair of New York's Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) and helped the city avoid bankruptcy. From 1997-2000 he served as the U.S. Ambassador to France. Mr. Rohatyn is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Lewis A. (Lee) Sachs - Mr. Sachs is a partner of Mariner Investment Group where he is Chairman of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining Mariner, he was CEO of Cornerstone Asset Management and until 2003, Vice Chairman of Perseus LLC, a merchant bank and private equity fund management firm. Mr. Sachs also served in the Clinton Administration as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets. He was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Mr. Sachs was a Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Capital Markets and a member of the Board of Directors of the Bear, Stearns Companies Inc.
Allen Sinai - Mr. Sinai is the Founder, Chief Global Economist, and President of Decision Economics, Inc. (PDE), a global economic and financial advisory firm. He is also an adjunct professor of Economics and Finance in the Lemberg Program of International Economics and Finance at BrandeisUniversity. During the 1980s, he was the Chief Global Economist at Lehman Brothers, and the Director of Lehman Brothers Global Economics. In the 1970s, Mr. Sinai and Otto Eckstein developed the influential DRI Model of the US Economy.
Bill Spriggs - Mr. Spriggs is the Chair of the Department of Economics at HowardUniversity. From 1988 to 2004, he was Executive Director of the National Urban League's Institute for Opportunity and Equality. In 2004, he was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus Chairman's Award. Under President Clinton, he led the staff of the National Commission for Employment Policy (1993-1994) and worked at the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration. He is also a past board member and President of the National Economic Association, the professional organization of African-American economists.
Larry Summers - Mr. Summers served as Treasury Secretary under President Clinton (1999-2001). He is also President Emeritus of HarvardUniversity (2001-2006). From 1991-1993, before joining the Department of the Treasury, he served as Chief Economist at the World Bank. In 1993 he received the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association. Mr. Summers is a member of the boards of the Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.
John J. Sweeney - Mr. Sweeney is the President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Prior to AFL-CIO, he served as President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). His trade union career began as a research assistant with the Ladies Garment Workers. In 1960, he joined SEIU as a contract director for New York City Local 32B. He went on to become union president and to lead two citywide strikes of apartment maintenance workers. In 1980, he was elected president of the international. Mr. Sweeney is the author of America Needs A Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice.
Laura Tyson - Ms. Tyson is a professor at the University of California's Haas School of Business. She served in the Clinton Administration as the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (1993-1995) and Director of the National Economic Council (1995-1996). Ms. Tyson is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory (BRUEGEL) and the Institute for International Economics.