Speakers
We are excited to welcome the dynamic speakers and experts listed below to EconCon Presents. We invite you to review the information below to get to know a little more about our speakers. Be sure to check back regularly for future speaker confirmations.
Mehrsa Baradaran
she/her/hers
Professor of Law
Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Panelist
Mehrsa Baradaran is a law professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Mehrsa writes about banking law, financial inclusion, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. Her latest book is The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.
Jamelle Bouie
he/him/his
Columnist, New York Times
Political Analyst, CBS News
Moderator
Jamelle Bouie is a New York Times columnist and political analyst for CBS News. Jamelle uses his unique perspective to take audiences to the front lines of the nation’s most significant news events, from civil unrest to political partisanship.
Maurice BP-Weeks
he/him/his
Co-Executive Director
Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE)
Speaker
Maurice BP-Weeks is the Co-Executive Director of (ACRE). Maurice works with community organizations and labor unions to create equitable communities by dismantling systems of wealth extraction that target Black and Brown communities. Maurice has years of community organizing experience on housing, revenue and budgets, policing and incarceration, corporate accountability, and education justice.
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom
she/her/hers
Author, Sociologist, Professor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is an award-winning Associate Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society whose work has been recognized nationally and internationally for the urgency and depth of her incisive critical analysis of technology, higher education, class, race, and gender.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
he/him/his
Former Detroit Public Health Commissioner
Author, "Healing Politics"
Panelist
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed made history when he became the youngest public health official in a major American city. Dr. El-Sayed hosts the podcast America Dissected, is a leading epidemiologist, and an author. A CNN contributor and advocate for infusing public health and education with social justice, he reminds audiences what matters in a nation facing the coronavirus.
Ioana Marinescu
she/her/hers
Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
Panelist
Dr. Ioana Marinescu is an economist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice. Dr. Marinescu studies the labor market to craft policies that can enhance wages, productivity, and economic security, and her research expertise includes antitrust policy and the labor market, universal basic income, unemployment insurance, and the minimum wage.
Heather McGhee
she/her/hers
Author
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
Panelist
Heather McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. In the coming year, she will release a book and launch two original podcasts on the economy and on how to create cross-racial solidarity in challenging times. As an NBC News Political Analyst, McGhee regularly elevates the concerns of working families and worked to improve the lives of millions.
Jess Morales Rocketto
she/her/hers
Executive Director, Care in Action
Civic Engagement Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
Panelist
Jess Morales Rocketto is the Executive Director of Care in Action and the Civic Engagement Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, where she spearheads political advocacy campaigns for the 2.5 million domestic workers in this country. Morales Rocketto works on many campaigns to end family separation and detention. In 2019, Jess was honored in the first TIME 100 Next.