Save the Date: CED All-Trustee Policy Discussion, November 17

On Wednesday, November 17, 12:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET, CED will hold its Bi-Annual All-Trustee Policy Discussion. Dr. Austan D. Goolsbee, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and member of the President’s Cabinet, and current Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics, UChicago Booth, will start the session with a Trustee Briefing on “The Economic Recovery: Too Much Heat?”

Next, Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times Op-Ed Columnist, will then brief Trustees on “The Future of the Republican Party and Conservatism in America.” This will be followed by a Trustee-Only Roundtable on "Understanding the OSHA ETS Vaccine Mandate Guidelines" with Camille Olson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and a CED Trustee. Camille serves on the National Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee and is the past National Chairperson of the Labor and Employment Practice Department.

For more information, please contact Anthony Vecere. 

Award Honoree Margaret Keane of Synchrony: Committed to Uplifting Diverse Employees from All Backgrounds

Award Honoree Noubar Afeyan of Flagship Pioneering and Moderna: Leaping into the Unknown

Moderna became a household name seemingly overnight, following the company’s successful development and distribution of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine based on mRNA technology. But behind the historic accomplishment was a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and risk-taking, shared Noubar Afeyan, the Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Co-Founder and Chairman of Moderna. He was awarded CED’s Distinguished Leadership Award for business stewardship and corporate citizenship, in large part due to his substantial contributions to develop and manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine and defeat the pandemic.

At CED’s recent Distinguished Leadership Awards Celebration, Noubar was introduced by Kenneth C. Frazier, Executive Chair of the Board, Merck.

Among the top insights from Kenneth C. Frazier’s introduction and Noubar Afeyan’s acceptance speech:

• As Kenneth Frazier shared in his introduction, under Noubar’s leadership, Flagship Pioneering has launched more than 100 science-based businesses, filed more than 12,750 patents, and created a pipeline of more than 50 clinical programs. “It’s just amazing,” he said.
• Since its inception in 2000, Noubar has steered Flagship Pioneering to take enormous leaps into the unknown. Moderna is just one impressive example. “The use of messenger RNA as a medicine in 2010 was just a fantasy—in fact, many people called us that." Noubar said. "That was exactly the right place to leap for us. We needed to make the fantasy a reality by doing science. And what took us there was the belief that if it could be proven to work, the benefits would be impactful.”
• The mRNA technology was indeed successful, and Moderna was able to develop and manufacture a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time. More than a billion doses of the Moderna vaccine have been deployed across the globe, Noubar said. In 2022, the company plans to increase its capacity to 3 billion doses to build a comprehensive vaccine plan in the world’s poorest countries.
• The pandemic has created a sense of disruption and dislocation that closely mirrors Noubar’s personal experiences as both an immigrant and the descendent of genocide survivors, he shared. “We’re all going to experience what it’s like to be a survivor of an unexpected tragedy, an unexpected dislocation, and I wonder if we’re ready for that,” he said.
• "Historically, those who survive loss and displacement emerge with a much stronger sense of life,” Noubar said. “In fact, many of them become immigrants, and that immigrant mindset makes them more open to try new things, take risks, leap, innovate. They can imagine a new world because they have to inhabit a world unfamiliar to them. They can invent with bravery and imagination because they have to summon that bravery to leap into the unknown and reinvent their lives, as we will have to do. If we choose to, we can harness the dislocation and disruption the pandemic forced upon us, and tap into that immigrant survivor mindset to reimagine, reinvent, and leap into new possibilities when the crisis subsides.”

Watch Noubar Afeyan's acceptance speech (10 minutes, 45 seconds) »

Watch Kenneth C. Frazier's introduction (5 minutes, 12 seconds) »

Award Honoree Brian Moynihan of Bank of America: To Sustain Capitalism, Prioritize Stakeholders

Brian Moynihan, the Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, has always prioritized giving back—be it by helping members of his community through programs to encourage economic opportunity, advancing environmental priorities, or focusing on stakeholders. Brian was awarded CED’s Distinguished Leadership Award for business stewardship and corporate citizenship, thanks to his continued efforts to build a stronger community through company initiatives, a new global ESG reporting framework, and a commitment to sustaining capitalism.

At CED’s recent Distinguished Leadership Awards Celebration, Brian was introduced by Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture.

Among the top insights from Julie Sweet’s introduction and Brian Moynihan’s acceptance speech:

• As noted in Julie Sweet’s introduction, Brian has been practicing stakeholder capitalism before it had a name. “He did so by relentlessly pursuing responsible business growth. And that meant that when the pandemic hit, Brian and his leadership team were not only able to make sure that their frontline workers were there in the community and keeping people safe, but that BoA would thrive and emerge stronger,” Julie said.
• To help employees balance remote work and caregiving responsibilities, Bank of America began offering a $100 daily stipend to pay for childcare costs during the pandemic, Brian explained. The company also raised its minimum wage to $21 an hour, donated $100 million to charities for medical supplies, and gave away $33 million worth of face masks so community members did not have to choose between spending money on food or personal safety, he said.
• Two of Brian’s key focus areas are environmental and racial justice. Bank of America has pledged to be net-zero by 2050, and the company has committed $1 trillion over the next eight years to help its clients make a just transition to sustainable practices. The company also pledged more than $1 billion to help advance racial equity and economic opportunity through jobs, housing, businesses, and health care.
• “As CEOs, we face a dual responsibility—we have to deliver for our shareholders, and deliver for society,” Brian said. He went on to describe a concept called ‘the genius of the and.’ “Profits and purpose. Delivering for shareholders and society. It is the basis of stakeholder capitalism, an idea core to how our company works to support our teammates, clients, communities, and our shareholders every day.”
• "The private sector is the key to solve the big things, and capitalism is the way to do that,” Brian said. “Capitalism done right is the way to do that. And our job as CEOs is to lead companies in a way that does capitalism right for our team, our customers, our shareholders, and our communities. It’s not stakeholder capitalism, it’s the right thing.”

Debt Matters: Policymakers Must Keep Fiscal Health Top of Mind

As Congress continues to work through a reconciliation budget bill that would fundamentally expand and transform the role of government in the US economy, policymakers must remain committed to fixing the country’s fiscal health and addressing the nation’s outsized debt and deficits. That’s the crux of a new paper co-authored for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation by CED President Dr. Lori Esposito Murray and Chief Economist at The Conference Board, Dana Peterson. The paper is part of a major initiative undertaken by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which includes the release of a series of papers by some of the top economists and analysts in the fiscal policy space, on the left and right, looking at challenges facing the US economy in the wake of the pandemic.

The nation’s fiscal health was deteriorating long before the pandemic, and by the end of 2020, the debt held by the public exceeded $21 trillion. At 100.1 percent of GDP, the current US debt is slightly more than the size of the economy and is on track to surpass historic highs in the next decade. To keep the debt from spiraling out of control and becoming catastrophic for the overall economy, legislators must set priorities, ensure there is sufficient funding to pay for these initiatives, and return the reconciliation budget process to one that reduces deficits and debt. CED’s recommendations include making fiscal responsibility a priority, being realistic about all costs, leveraging the private sector for collaboration, reforming taxes, and segmenting off the pandemic-related debt to deal with first.

Read the paper »

Read the related Solutions Brief, The Reconciliation Bill: Finding an Affordable Way to Build Back Better »

Capturing Uncounted Learning: Credential As You Go Initiative Works to Transform the Nation’s Credentialing System

Although the majority of employers today still use a college degree as a gold standard of evidence for competencies to successfully fulfill a job position, leaders of the new Credential As You Go initiative are suggesting a bigger role for higher education that would help serve students more fairly and effectively. On the latest episode of the Sustaining Capitalism podcast, Cindy Cisneros, CED’s Vice President of Education Programs, sits down with Dr. Nan Travers, Director of the Center for Leadership in Credentialing Learning at SUNY Empire State College, to talk about the program.

Among the key takeaways from the conversation:

• There are approximately 36 million individuals in the US who have not finished a degree within six years of starting a program. Many of these people have credentials that they learned from on-the-job experience or training programs unaffiliated with a traditional degree program, but these skills are not counted toward the next level of educational attainment. The Credential As You Go program is working to change this narrative by recognizing and credentialing people for knowledge and skills as they attain new learning, allowing them to use it to continue their education.
• Approximately 72 percent of the adult population with a college credential identify as white, and only 10 percent are Black or Latinx. Black learners are the largest population with some college credits but no degree, Dr. Travers explained, and they also carry the highest student loan debt load. When you think about the economic disadvantage that not having a degree perpetuates, people of color are disproportionately impacted. By offering credits for skills and competencies learned on-the-job, the program aims to change this trajectory.
• The Credential As You Go program awards certain skills “micro-credentials.” These then fit into a larger certificate or degree, thus taking on-the-job learning and factoring that directly into the education program. The initiative’s team leaders are also working with employers to identify areas where further education is needed to help employees advance in their roles. Dr. Travers cites a partnership with CVS Health to develop a bachelor’s degree program for store managers. CVS Health determined that candidates should have more HR training, so the Credential As You Go team added a new HR training for managers into the curriculum.
• The Credential As You Go framework will soon be tested across Colorado, New York, and North Carolina. As the team prepares to implement 90 different credentials in these target states, they are working to partner with key stakeholders, including the higher education and business communities, and integrate existing programs into the rollout.

Listen to the episode (42 minutes, 26 seconds) »

Today, Wednesday, November 10, 12:00 p.m. ET – 12:30 p.m. ET, CED will host a Trustee Briefing with Ilaria Maselli, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. Based in Europe, Maselli will discuss the continuing economic impacts of Brexit on the global economy.

On Monday, November 15, 12:00 p.m. ET – 12:30 p.m. ET, CED will host a Trustee Briefing with Dana Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board. The monthly series looks at the US and international forecast and upcoming trends. Peterson plans to discuss the global economic recovery from pandemic-related disruptions, the potential economic impact of the COVID-19 variants, and inflationary pressures among commodity, producer, consumer, and housing prices.

Upcoming Webcast Outlines an R&D Investment Plan to Enhance US Competitiveness

The US remains the global leader in total R&D spending, yet its lead in advancing science and technology is being challenged by countries like China, and its international competitiveness is waning. One primary reason is that the federal government’s contribution to basic research has been declining steadily for decades and has increasingly shifted toward private business. On Thursday, November 18, 12:00 p.m. ET – 1:00 p.m. ET, CED will host a Policy Watch Webcast that explains how policymakers can make bolder, riskier investments that deliver breakthroughs in science and technologies to increase American innovation.

Guest speakers include:

• Farnam Jahanian, President, Carnegie Mellon University
• Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program
• Ramon Benet, former CEO, Instrumentation Laboratory, and a CED Trustee
• Reece Kurtenbach, CEO, Daktronics, and a CED Trustee
• Elizabeth Crofoot (moderator), Senior Economist, CED

Register here »

A Fiscally Responsible Budget Reconciliation Package?

On November 3, CED’s Fiscal Health Committee hosted Representative Scott Perry (R-PA), who has asked to be briefed on CED’s Solutions Brief, The Reconciliation Bill: Finding an Affordable Way to Build Back Better.

Among the key takeaways from the conversation:

• The nation must consider how to deal with its continuing problems while remaining cognizant of the ongoing debt issue. Congress appropriates dollar figures for different programs, but these numbers are often not reflective of the actual costs of programs. We need to look at our overall budget situation in a more comprehensive way.
• In a time when the economy is picking itself up, printing money and devaluing our currency is not good for business. Prices come down with innovation. We need to be willing to cut programs for the sake of new programs we want to implement.
• The nation’s fiscal health is a concern, but the dollar has maintained its status as the world’s reserve currency. There is concern for the status of the dollar in the long-term—the People’s Bank of China is working on creating a cyber currency as a reserve currency, and there are propositions to replace the dollar as the reserve currency with a global reserve currency.
• Inflation and a lack of competitiveness vis-a-vis global competitors is also a concern. We do not want to get to a point where the debt problem is too severe to fix— for example, if interest on the debt eclipses payments for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the defense budget.

Read the related Solutions Brief, The Reconciliation Bill: Finding an Affordable Way to Build Back Better »

CED Kicks Off Leadership Seminar Series for Mid-Career Fellows

The CED Fellowship Program for Mid-Career Women Professionals, which CED launched in September 2021, includes a monthly Leadership Seminar Series for the fellows hosted by CED Trustees and relevant leaders/experts.

The first in the series of seminars was held in October and was hosted by Debra Perry, a CED Trustee and a financial professional who has served on the boards of six NYSE-listed companies and two mutual fund complexes, chairing Audit, Risk, Compensation, and Governance Committees. Since 2018, Debra has chaired the Board of the Bernstein Funds. She also serves on the Boards of Assurant, Inc.; Genworth Financial, Inc.; and Korn Ferry. Debra shared with the CED Fellows her career experiences as a pioneering woman in finance and shared some of the lessons learned. She also talked about the importance of business leadership being engaged in public policy and why she believes it is important for business leaders to lend their voice to the most pressing economic, business, and social issues facing the nation.

This week, the CED Fellows met for the second Leadership seminar with CED Trustee Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies & Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management. Jeff shared with the Fellows how the role of the CEO has been changing, and the top challenges and leadership skills that are required for the CEO position in a dynamically changing global economic and social environment. He provided a concise but comprehensive sweep of the evolution of the CEO role and its growing influence as capitalism has shifted towards stakeholder-focused capitalism. He also shared insights from his most recent CEO engagements on voting rights.

For more information on the CED Fellowship Program for Mid-Career Women Professionals click here.

Weekly Unemployment Claims Continue Slide Downward

New claims for Unemployment Insurance benefits edged downward again in the week ending October 30. The headline seasonally adjusted number of new claims for regular state programs fell by 14,000 to 269,000. This is another new post-pandemic low, and takes another small slice off of the excess of claims today over the excess of current claims above the steady state level of very roughly 200,000 from the full-employment state before the pandemic struck.

All other measures of Unemployment Compensation showed similar incremental improvement as in the Employment Situation report. The very rapid economic bounce back of mid-2020 is yielding to a slow whittling away of the remaining margin of decline in the labor market. Continuing coronavirus interruptions and fear in consumer markets and in the labor market, plus enduring structural issues in supply chains, leave us struggling for the last measure of recovery to what we hope will be a resumed “normal.”

Global Economic Outlook: Momentum in 2022 Gives Way to Harder-Won Growth in the Decade Beyond

The global economy is set for another year of above-potential recovery growth in 2022, after expanding by a robust 5.1% in 2021. Global Economic Outlook 2022: From Pandemic Downturn to Growth Revival, the suite of forecasts from The Conference Board for the decade ahead, tracks the future of this historically rapid resurgence with detailed analyses for the US, Europe, China, and the Gulf region.

In the short term, tailwinds abound. Indeed, global GDP—which contracted by an unprecedented 3.3% in 2020—already recovered all of its losses by Q1 2021. The Conference Board is projecting robust growth of 3.9% in 2022. By the end of next year, 66 out of 77 key economies, representing 96% of global GDP, should be at or above pre-pandemic output levels, though labor market and income recovery will lag somewhat.

Read the analysis »

Ken Frazier—2021 CEO of the Year

Chief Executive

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David Cordani—Cigna Improves Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Performance for 5th Straight Year

Fierce Healthcare

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Hollie Heikkinen—Delivery Drivers, Inc. Puts ‘Drivers First’ with New iWorker Innovations Partnership

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Jo Kirchner—More Than 65,000 Children Across the Country Participate in Food Drive, Building Character and Helping Communities

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The Education Committee will meet Friday, November 12, from 1:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET. Guest Briefing Speakers will be Co-Chair Jo Kirchner and Radha Mohan from the Early Care and Education Consortium. They will discuss ECEC’s White Paper about a sustainable child care system.

The Infrastructure Committee will meet on Monday, November 15, from 1:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET. The Committee will be briefed by Mike Hopkins, the CEO of Bakken Energy and a CED Trustee, to talk about hydrogen and the country's energy future.

The Workforce Committee will meet on Tuesday, November 30, from 1:00 p.m. ET—2:00 p.m. ET. The Committee will be briefed by Commissioner Keith E. Sonderling, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on AI and the workforce.

For questions about committees or to join a meeting, please reach out to Anthony Vecere. 

For additional information, please visit the CED Virtual Community. Trustees can find Committee meeting materials, agendas, speaker information, and more housed on the virtual, secure platform.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

November 10

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology | Subcommittee on Research and Technology—Hearing: Weathering the Storm: Reauthorizing the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

Learn more »

November 11

Federal Holiday.

SENATE

No Committee Hearings Scheduled. 

A compilation of upcoming meetings, briefings, and webcasts:

Wednesday, November 10, 12:00 p.m. ET – 12:30 p.m. ET
Trustee Briefing with Ilaria Maselli, The Conference Board Senior Economist in Europe, on the continuing effects of Brexit

Wednesday, November 10, 1:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET
Policy & Impact Committee meeting

Friday, November 12, 1:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET
Education Committee meeting

Monday, November 15, 1:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET
Infrastructure Committee meeting

Monday, November 15, 12:00 p.m. ET – 12:30 p.m. ET
Monthly Economic Outlook with Dana Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board

Wednesday, November 17, 12:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET
Bi-Annual All-Trustee Policy Discussion

Thursday, November 18, 12:00 p.m. ET – 1:00 p.m. ET
Policy Watch Webcast: Back to Basic Research: An R&D Investment Plan to Enhance US Competitiveness

Tuesday, November 30, 1:00 p.m. ET – 2:00 p.m. ET
Workforce Committee meeting

All Events »

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