Contact: Katie Bryan
katie.bryan@aspeninstitute.org
202-213-3340
Washington, DC—The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program is pleased to announce that Rhett Buttle joins the Financial Security Program in November as a Senior Fellow. Rhett will focus his efforts on advancing the innovative Reconnecting Work and Wealth Initiative – a cutting edge effort of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program and Economic Opportunities Program and their broader stakeholder networks to re-envision the ways that 21st Century labor and financial markets can deliver inclusive growth and shared prosperity.
The Initiative is supported by seed funder The Prudential Foundation as well as The Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Earlier this year, Prudential announced a three-year $5 million partnership with the Aspen Institute to advance solutions that increase financial security for all American workers.
“Prudential’s partnership with the Aspen Institute aims to promote broader reforms in both the labor and financial markets helping working people move from financial fragility toward financial resilience, stability, mobility and prosperity,” says Lata Reddy, senior vice president, diversity, inclusion and impact, Prudential Financial, Inc. “This partnership also highlights the need to increase the national discourse about a renewed 21st Century social contract as workers bear increasing risk and responsibility for their short- and long-term financial security. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Aspen and Rhett, in his new role, to find ways to reconnect work and wealth for American workers.”
Rhett joins the Aspen Institute as a well-known leader working with the private sector on critical public policy issues. In addition to launching his own firm, Public Private Strategies, Rhett has worked in government at the state and federal level. Most recently, Rhett served as the business director for Secretary Hillary Clinton. Before that, he served as the Director of Private Sector Engagement in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a member of the White House Business Council. During his time in the federal government, Buttle played key roles in many of the Administration’s public-private partnerships. Rhett has also held several roles in the business advocacy community including serving as President & Managing Director of the Small Business Majority.
“Now more than ever, business is playing a critical role in our public conversation,” said Buttle. “I couldn’t think of any better way to tackle issues around economic security and inclusive growth than with an amazing institution like the Aspen Institute. I look forward to working with the diverse set of leaders committed to finding solutions to these challenges.”
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Rhett on our team. Rhett has built his career on cultivating private sector leadership on some of the most critical social issues that underpin economic inclusion and security, and that bring the business community together with other sectors in strategic and pragmatic ways to solve problems. Rhett’s skills will help bring our work on economic opportunity and financial security to a new level,” said Ida Rademacher, Vice President at the Aspen Institute and Executive Director of the Institute’s Financial Security Program.
Buttle’s fellowship with Aspen began in November.
About the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
The Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program (FSP) connects the world’s best minds to find breakthrough solutions for America’s family financial security crisis. FSP advances a new generation of policies, products, and services that enable more Americans to meet basic financial needs and withstand financial shocks, while saving for long-term goals like college, homeownership, and retirement. For more information on Aspen FSP, please visit www.aspenfsp.org.