In this episode of Capital for Good, we speak with Heather Higginbottom, the president of the JPMorgan Chase PolicyCenter. Higginbottom has served at the highest levels of government in the State Department, the White House, and Capitol Hill and is one of the country’s leading experts on a range of domestic, economic, foreign, and budget policy issues.
In this conversation, Higginbottom explains how the PolicyCenter allows JPMorgan Chase to work on a variety of issues related to a more inclusive economy, drawing on the firm’s expertise, experience, and resources — its unique insights, perspectives, learnings, and assets — including original research through the JPMorgan Chase Institute and its global philanthropy and business and investment expertise. These include a number of areas the firm has focused on historically, including neighborhood development (i.e., affordable housing), jobs and skills, small business and access to capital, and significant new commitments related to inclusive growth, including its recent $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity, reduce systemic racism, and help close the racial wealth divide. Using the example of the PolicyCenter’s Second Chance initiative, an effort to reduce barriers to employment for people with criminal records, Higginbottom describes how JPMorgan Chase works on these issues within the firm — and with partners like the Business Roundtable and others at the industry level, including, in this case, the recently launched Second Chance Business Coalition.
Mentioned in this episode:
- JPMorgan PolicyCenter
- JPMorgan Chase Institute
- Unemployment Insurance, Job Search, and Spending During the Pandemic, Peter Ganong, Fiona Greig, Max Liebeskind, Pascal Noel, Daniel Sullivan, Joseph Vavra, “Spending and Job Search Impacts of Expanded Unemployment Benefits: Evidence from Administrative Micro Data” (JPMorgan Chase Institute, 2021)
- A Path Forward: a $30 Billion Commitment to Advance Racial Equity (JPMorgan Chase)
- JPMorgan Chase Targets More Than $2.5 Trillion Over 10 Years to Advance Climate Action and Sustainable Development (JPMorgan Chase)
- Second Chance Agenda (JPMorgan Chase)
- Second Chance Business Coalition (JPMorgan Chase)
About Heather Higginbottom:
Heather Higginbottom is president of the JPMorgan Chase PolicyCenter, which develops and advances sustainable, evidence-based policy solutions to drive inclusive economic growth in the United States and around the world. Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, Heather served as chief operating officer of CARE USA, a $650 million international nongovernmental organization that provides humanitarian and development assistance in over 90 countries reaching 80 million people per year. Heather served as Deputy Secretary of State for Management & Resources for the United States State Department from 2013 to 2017. While there, she represented the Department in the National Security Council, led diplomatic engagement on key issues, and oversaw operations and management for the 70,000 person department. In the White House, Heather served as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, functioning as chief operating officer and a principal architect of the federal budget, and as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Heather has held senior positions on Capitol Hill and led policy development in two presidential campaigns. Heather is an accomplished expert in a wide range of domestic, economic, foreign, and federal budget policy development. She is a skilled public speaker who has regularly testified before Congress, in the media, and before key audiences. Heather holds a BA in political science from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree in public policy from the George Washington University. Heather serves on the boards of directors of Girl Scouts of the USA and the US Soccer Foundation.