Equitable Growth CEO to depart, search for new CEO underway

CONTACT:

Elena Waskey, ewaskey@equitablegrowth.org

WASHINGTON – The Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a nonprofit research and grantmaking institution dedicated to accelerating research on how economic inequality affects growth and stability, announced today that President and CEO Michelle Holder will step down from her role, effective July 7, 2022. 

“My time at Equitable Growth has been fulfilling and rewarding, and it has been an absolute honor to work side by side with so many talented and passionate people every day,” said Holder. “This was an extremely difficult decision to make, but as a mother of two young children, I believe strongly in achieving a sustainable work-life balance. Therefore, this is the right decision for myself, and for my family, at this time.” 

“Michelle has been a tremendous leader in her time at Equitable Growth,” said John Podesta, who co-founded the organization in 2013 and serves as board chair. “Her work to center race and gender in the organization’s mission has left an indelible mark that will undoubtedly endure. Equitable Growth’s mission to advance evidence-backed ideas and policies to promote strong, stable, and broadly shared growth remains more critical than ever in this moment, and we look forward to continuing to work with Michelle.”

Holder will continue to serve as a distinguished senior fellow for Equitable Growth through early 2023, during which time she will write her third book.

As president and CEO, Holder brought her research to bear on the nation’s most pressing policy issues, testifying before the U.S. congressional Joint Economic Committee on the need for robust government investments in the wake of the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. She pushed the conversation forward on what a new economic future could look like, publicly engaging with leading economists, such as Olivier Blanchard, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory, and newly appointed member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Lisa Cook.

Holder also furthered Equitable Growth’s work to center race and gender in its research and analysis, including through her report, “The ‘Double Gap’ and the Bottom Line: African American Women’s Wage Gap and Corporate Profits,”as well as with the organization’s Steering Committee to emphasize the need for academic research to incorporate the role of racial and gender stratification in the 2022 annual Request for Proposals.

Equitable Growth has retained a national executive recruitment firm to begin the search for its next president and CEO.

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The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @equitablegrowth.