The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program hosted a public event, “Charting a Course Towards a More Inclusive Financial System: Our Collective Call to Action,” on Tuesday, December 5th from 3:00-5:00 pm ET. At the event changemakers in government, industry, and nonprofits spoke about their role and leadership in furthering financial inclusion–and our charge moving forward. Informed by these perspectives, Aspen FSP unveiled a set of recommendations and charted a path of action for making our financial systems more inclusive.

Agenda

Introduction
Tracing the Journey of the Call for a More Inclusive Financial System
Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute and Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

Pre-Recorded Remarks from Governor Michelle Bowman
Governor Michelle Bowman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Pre-Recorded Remarks from Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Ongoing Work and Commitments to Financial Inclusion
Acting Comptroller Michael J. Hsu, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Treasury’s Commitment to Advancing Equity
In conversation with David Clunie, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Graham Steele will speak to the status of financial inclusion and Treasury’s work to advance equity.

• Moderator: David Clunie, Principal, Head of Community Relations, Edward Jones
• Graham Steele, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Call to Action to Government and Industry
Salah Goss, Senior Vice President, Social Impact North America, Mastercard, Center for Inclusive Growth

Working Group on Inclusive Finance Panel
Representatives from the Working Group on Inclusive Finance will speak to the five priority issue areas that could unlock a more inclusive financial system and share why those issues are key to improving access, use and benefit of the financial system for more households.

• Moderator: Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
• Jo Ann Barefoot, Founder and CEO, Alliance for Innovative Regulation
• Hilary Chidi, Executive Vice President, Credit Risk Solutions & Chief Sustainability Officer, TransUnion
• Dawson Her Many Horses, Managing Director & Head of Native American Banking, Wells Fargo
• Jesse Van Tol, President and CEO, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Closing: A Commitment to Building a More Inclusive Financial System
Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

Join us in-person for a reception at the conclusion of the event.

Speakers 

Jo Ann Barefoot, Founder and CEO, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

As a former senior bank regulator and Capitol Hill staffer, she helped design and implement policy frameworks in the traditional financial system. Today, she focuses on the places where the disparate currents in our markets and regulatory systems can flow together to form something new and better than what came before it. At AIR, she is helping to make the financial system fairer and more resilient by spurring the development of new solutions for financial consumers that employ the advantages and combat the risks of digital innovation. Their mission is to connect government officials, digital innovators, financial providers, academics, nonprofits and other stakeholders, assembling a diverse network committed to the common goal of a technologically advanced regulatory system.

She has always been interested in the confluence of technology, markets, culture, social movements, science, art, education, global poverty reduction and, crucially, regulation in fostering the transformative ideas that make our world better.

Governor Michelle Bowman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Michelle W. Bowman has been serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System since Nov. 26, 2018. Initially appointed to fill the remainder of an unexpired term, in January 2020 she was reappointed and sworn in for a full 14 year term ending Jan. 31, 2034. Prior to her Board appointment, Bowman served as the Kansas state bank commissioner from January 2017 to November 2018, before which she was vice president of Farmers & Drovers Bank in Kansas from 2010 to 2017. Additional past experience included service in the Washington, D.C., office of Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, as a counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, as a director at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and in capacity as a deputy assistant secretary and policy adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Following her time in Washington, Bowman led a government and public affairs consultancy in London before returning to Kansas in 2010. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a JD from the Washburn University School of Law; Bowman is a member of the New York State Bar.

Hilary Chidi, EVP, Credit Risk Solutions & Chief Sustainability Officer, TransUnion

Hilary Chidi Executive Vice President, Credit Risk & Chief Sustainability Officer Hilary Chidi is Executive Vice President, Credit Risk Solutions as well as Chief Sustainability Officer at Transunion. He has global oversight for credit data, scores & attributes, as well as analytics enablement and platforms that enable businesses to effectively discern risk and manage credit decisions. Additionally, Hilary leads the company’s global sustainability program as Chief Sustainability Officer with his focus ranging across the full ESG spectrum as well as financial inclusion. Previously, Hilary was Chief Product Officer for TransUnion’s Consumer Interactive business. Prior to TransUnion, Hilary held various leadership roles at Goldman Sachs and TIAA in New York and Hong Kong. Earlier in his career, Hilary worked as a strategist at the Federal Reserve and as a management consultant. He holds Master of Liberal Arts and Master of Science degrees from Harvard University and The London School of Economics (LSE) respectively, as well as an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Hilary sits on the boards of Teach for America (Chicago) and The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.

David Clunie, Principal, Head of Community Relations, Edward Jones

David Clunie is Head of Community Relations for Edward Jones, where he is responsible for activating and operationalizing the firm’s purpose through thought leadership, impactful partnerships, and strategic deployment of Edward Jones resources, including financial and human capital, expertise, and relationships.

He serves on the National Urban League Board of Trustees, the U.S. Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity, the U.S. Small Business Administration Commission on Underserved Communities, and he is a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. David previously served as Executive Director of the Black Economic Alliance—a coalition of business leaders and aligned advocates driving economic progress and prosperity in the Black community. Before BEA, David was a managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Corporate Responsibility and Government Relations. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Executive Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and he previously served as Deputy Associate White House Counsel.

David started his career as a litigation associate at the law firm Paul, Weiss LLP in NY, where he worked on commercial litigation cases and partnered with public interest organizations including the NAACP LDF and the Brennan Center for Justice on pro bono matters involving voting rights, police-community relations, prisoners’ rights, affirmative action, and disability rights.

David clerked for the Honorable Cynthia M. Rufe in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of the Howard University School of Law where he was editor-in-chief of the law review, and he is an honors graduate of the State University of New York at Albany. He currently splits his time between Harlem, New York and St. Louis, Missouri.

Salah Goss, Senior Vice President, Social Impact North America, Mastercard, Center for Inclusive Growth

Salah Goss is a financial inclusion expert specializing in digital solutions. She was recently named Senior Vice President for Social Impact at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. Previously, she was Senior Vice President at Mastercard running international markets for financial inclusion at the base of the economic pyramid. She was also Head of the Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi where she oversaw technology innovation and product development focused on developing markets. Her previous roles at Mastercard also include Vice President, Global Products and Solutions where she partnered with the development community, NGOs and governments to design payments and financial services solutions that foster financial inclusion and address wider economic development challenges. Salah has contributed to multiple patents, representing her contribution to the development of innovative digital solutions while at Mastercard.

Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

Kate Griffin serves as Director of Programs at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. She works on initiative strategies, ensuring FSP’s work across benefits, savings, investing, wealth building, and financial inclusion catalyzes leaders toward systemic change that results in financial security for all people in America. She also serves as senior strategic advisor to FSP’s work supporting the launch of a proposed National Financial Inclusion Commission in the U.S. to create a national financial inclusion strategy that moves from focusing on account and information access to measurable financial security outcomes for households. Kate has spent two decades making financial services work better for low-income and marginalized people, both here in the US and in developing countries. In various leadership roles, she has led a social enterprise providing financial wellness benefits to workers, and was on the founding executive team of a start-up fintech, tasked with bringing the voice of underserved consumers into product design and delivery. She also led programming for savings, financial capability, higher education, and housing at Prosperity Now. She started her career in international microfinance working with CGAP and the Grameen Foundation. Kate holds degrees in international development from Kenyon College and American University and lives in suburban Washington, DC with her family.

Dawson Her Many Horses, Managing Director & Head of Native American Banking, Wells Fargo

Dawson Her Many Horses is a managing director at Wells Fargo, which is the leading provider of capital and financial services to the Native American and Alaska Native markets. Wells Fargo has relationships with more than 400 tribes and tribally owned enterprises, with approximately $2.5 billion in credit commitments and $2.5 billion in deposits. After joining Wells Fargo in 2018, he was appointed head of Native American Banking in 2021 before being named a managing director in 2023.

Her Many Horses’ career has spanned commercial and investment banking, with a focus on Native American gaming. He began his career at Merrill Lynch after graduating from Columbia University in 2004. Her Many Horses was appointed director of Native American business development for the investment banking, wealth management, and asset management groups at Merrill Lynch. He later moved into Merrill Lynch investment banking, where he focused on the tribal gaming market. Her Many Horses received his M.B.A. from Dartmouth College in 2010 and rejoined Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was a banker on the Gaming team until 2018.

Her Many Horses is the founder of the Native American employee group at Bank of America and is chair of the Native American Visiting Committee at Dartmouth College. He is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

Acting Comptroller Michael J. Hsu, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

As Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Mr. Hsu is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief executive officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC ensures that the federal banking system operates in a safe and sound manner, provides fair access to financial services, treats customers fairly, and complies with applicable laws and regulations. It supervises nearly 1,100 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks that serve consumers, businesses, and communities across the United States. These banks range from community banks to the nation’s largest most internationally active banks.

The Comptroller also serves as a Director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Prior to joining the OCC, Mr. Hsu served as an Associate Director in the Division of Supervision and Regulation at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In that role, he chaired the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee Operating Committee, which has responsibility for supervising the global systemically important banking companies operating in the United States.

His career also has included serving as a Financial Sector Expert at the International Monetary Fund, Financial Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Financial Economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Hsu holds of a bachelor of arts from Brown University, a master of science in finance from George Washington University, and juris doctor degree from New York University School of Law.

Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

Ida Rademacher is a vice president at the Aspen Institute and co-executive director of the Aspen Financial Security Program. She also launched and leads the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy. A leading voice on Americans’ financial health, Ida is also known for building innovative teams, initiatives and events that fuel new insights and fresh thinking about how to simultaneously build economic inclusion and economic growth. Her efforts have resulted in the creation of several cutting-edge initiatives and events, including the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), the Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings, Benefits21, the Global Inclusive Growth Summit and The Future of Wealth. In Ida’s prior work as Chief Program Officer at Prosperity Now (formerly CFED), she created the multi-institutional team responsible for leading the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Financial Well-Being Metrics Project, and also led the creation of Upside Down, a program examining ways the U.S. income tax code generates disparate wealth building opportunities and contributes to growing levels of wealth inequality. Ida has testified on numerous occasions before Congress and contributes regularly to news and commentary on economic policy and consumer finance topics in outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Politico and Marketplace.

Graham Steele, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Department of Treasury

Graham Steele serves as the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  He is an expert on financial regulation and financial institutions, with more than a decade of experience working at the highest levels of law and policy in Washington, D.C.

Graham was previously the director of the Corporations and Society Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a research initiative that examines issues at the intersection of markets, business, and government to promote more accountable capitalism and governance. 

Prior to joining Stanford GSB, Graham was a member of the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. From 2015 to 2017, Graham was the Minority Chief Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs. From 2010 to 2015 he was a Legislative Assistant for United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), handling the Senator’s work as a member of the Senate Banking Committee. During that time, he also spent four years as the staff director of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions & Consumer Protection. Prior to joining Senator Brown’s staff, Graham was a policy counsel at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch in Washington, D.C.

Graham received his bachelors degree in political science from the University of Rochester and his law degree from The George Washington University Law School. He is originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, and is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar.

Jesse Van Tol, President and CEO, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Jesse Van Tol is NCRC’s President and CEO. He has been with NCRC since 2006 and has held a variety of leadership positions, eventually becoming chief executive in 2018. His work championing fair and responsible banking has resulted in nearly $300 billion in new investments in low- and moderate-income communities through Community Benefits Agreements with banking institutions. Through his leadership, NCRC has grown today to an organization with assets of nearly $150 million and an annual budget of $35 million. Jesse is a popular speaker and lecturer, and has testified before Congress, and appeared on NPR, in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, POLITICO and many other outlets. He also sits on a variety of advisory boards, including the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Affordable Housing Advisory Councils. He is a member of the consumer advisory councils of Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, TRUIST, Fifth Third, Huntington National Bank, First Horizon, KeyBank, 2/2 Quicken Loans, Santander and numerous others. Jesse was also a Senior Fellow with Humanity in Action, an international human rights group, and a communications institute Fellow with Opportunity Agenda. Jesse received his bachelor’s degree in History and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and received an executive education certificate from the Harvard Kennedy school as part of NeighborWorks’ Achieving Excellence.

Related Resources

• Unlocking a More Inclusive Financial System: We Must Solve For These 5 Key Issues
• Towards a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion
• Aspen Institute and Partners Call For National Financial Inclusion Strategy