Fourth Annual Exploring Career Pathways in Economics and Related Fields Conference

Good morning. I’m Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the fourth annual Exploring Career Pathways conference.

Let me start by extending my deep thanks to our friends and colleagues at the Sadie Collective for pioneering this event and partnering with us to create a fantastic program.

We are very excited that for the first time since we launched our partnership with the Sadie Collective, this event is fully in-person. We hope that being together like this will allow you to meet new people and draw fresh inspiration as you contemplate your
futures. And if you were at the networking breakfast this morning, you may have already started making connections.

The Chicago Fed is proud to cosponsor today’s event. It represents a truly collaborative effort intended to provide opportunities to—as the conference title says—explore career pathways in economics and related professions. We support diversity in economics and want to see you thrive in these important fields.

This conference has quickly become the cornerstone of the Chicago Fed–Sadie Collective partnership. The Chicago Fed has also recruited Sadie Collective Fellows into our summer internship program for the past three years, and we plan to continue this practice. So, if you’re a college junior, please consider applying soon to join us next summer.
 
If you are interested in the internship process, I recommend that you connect with Dawn Cox or Thomas Klier from our team. And not incidentally, I want to thank Dawn and Thomas for doing such a good job coordinating our internship and research assistant programs and helping to manage the Sadie Collective partnership.

The Chicago Fed is dedicated to this work because diversity, equity, and inclusion is
vital not just for our Bank, but also for the broader field of economics. For too long, many extremely talented women, people of color, and first-generation students have been discouraged from choosing the field.

By committing to the recruitment, mentoring, and development of future economists from diverse backgrounds, we can create a better community within the Federal Reserve, contribute to the economics profession overall, and also raise our level of excellence.

Our longstanding emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion ensures that these principles are embedded throughout our organization. We recognized early on that we do a better job of delivering on all aspects of the Federal Reserve’s mission when our work reflects a diversity of backgrounds and experiences and when we reflect the District we represent.

We also work with 16 external partners and community groups, including the Sadie Collective, that support our efforts to broaden our talent pipelines. These partners help us  build and sustain an equitable, inclusive workplace.

That brings me back to today’s conference program. You’ll hear about career experiences from both PhD economists and early-career research assistants. You’ll also be able to learn about the tools of economics research. We’re especially excited to hear from Nicole Elam, president and CEO of the National Bankers Association. Our own Anna Paulson,
executive vice president and director of research, will host a fireside chat with Nicole after
lunch.
 
Let me now turn things over to Misha Williams, partnership and grants manager at the Sadie Collective, who will be delivering additional welcome remarks.

The views expressed today are my own and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve System or the FOMC.