Congressman Gregory W. Meeks Leads Conversation On The African American Experience On Wall Street

(WASHINGTON, DC)–Today, Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), a member of the House Financial Services Committee hosted a panel forum on "Wall Street in the Black" during the 37th Annual Legislative Conference for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.

The forum highlighted the experiences and contributions of Black financiers on Wall Street. Clips from an upcoming documentary by Drunia Duvivier entitled "Wall Street in the Black" were shown and a panel discussion followed.
Congressman Gregory W. Meeks conducted a spirited conversation with a team of seasoned executives: Avery F. Byrd, Chairman & CEO, Toussaint Capital Partners, LLC; Willem Genece, Principle, Silverline Resources; Matthew T. McGuire, Vice President, Ariel Mutual Funds; Lindley White, Director, Investor Communication; Patricia L. Miller, Managing Director, Lehman Brothers; Donna Sims Wilson, Executive Vice President, M.R. Beal & Co.; Carla Harris, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley, Global Capital Markets and Willie E. Woods Jr., President, ICV Capitol Partners who shared their experiences on becoming successful on Wall Street.

The panelist discussed the magnitude of the low number of minorities in financial services. Meeks recently introduced H. Con. Res.140; the Financial Services Diversity Initiative passed the House on Monday, September 24, 2007. The bill is designed to increase diversity amongst the workforce in the financial services industry and take affirmative steps by employers and educational institutions to help increase diversity within the industry.

"Diversity within the financial services industry is vitally important not only for promoting innovation and creativity in the industry, but to developing a more inclusive workforce for a fair and just economy," stated Meeks. "If we are not tapping into the human resource that is predominant in the City, the financial services industry may eventually choose to relocate overseas."

Specifically, the bill passed in Committee today will:

•Encourage financial institutions to engage in a number of activities to try to promote workforce diversity, including partnering with organizations that focus on developing opportunities for minorities and women, to place talented youth in internships, summer jobs, and full-time positions within the industry and partnering with inner-city high schools and girls’ high schools to establish financial literacy programs and provide mentoring.

•Encourage financial institutions and federal and state financial institutions’ agencies to attract and retain a diverse workforce by recruiting at women’s colleges and colleges that serve minority groups; sponsoring and recruiting at job fairs in urban communities; and placing employment ads in media outlets oriented to people of color.

•Require that active measures should be taken by employers and educational institutions to increase the demographic diversity of the financial services industry.

“The Financial Services industry employs seven percent of this country’s workforce. In New York City financial services is the number one industry. Based on the recent census data, New York City is considered a majority minority city. It is compelling that the majority population is extremely and severely underrepresented in the city’s major industry,” said Meeks.