Grygo is the chief content officer for FTF.
A letter sent to the Trump administration from New York City’s A-List business leaders, including many from top Wall Street financial services firms, underscores the need for “an orderly presidential transition process” so that the country can re-focus on ending the global pandemic.
The letter also underscores the need for more cooperation among groups and schools of thought that are often in disagreement.
The letter and effort, dated November 23, was led by the Partnership for New York City in response to the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. It urges the Trump administration to accept the results of the election so that the nation can coalesce around responses to the pandemic.
The “Open Letter on Presidential Transition,” points out that “America is being ravaged by a deadly pandemic with enormous social and economic consequences. The attention and energy of public and private sector leaders should be entirely focused on uniting our country to fight the coronavirus, provide aid to those in need, prevent further business disruption and loss of jobs, and invest in our economic recovery and revitalization,”
Basically, they are arguing for a reset of national priorities.
“Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” according to the letter, which urged that the administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) to “ascertain that Joseph R. Biden and Kamala D. Harris are the president-elect and vice president-elect so that a proper transition can begin.”
For the GSA to continue to withhold money and information “puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk,” the letter argues.
Coincidentally, on the day that the letter was issued Trump tweeted later in the day that he had instructed the GSA to stop withholding resources and to share information with the Biden transition team. But Trump did not issue a formal concession.
The signatories also acknowledge that they are “business and civic leaders who reflect the political diversity of the country,” and they want the Trump administration to respect the democratic process. “There is not a moment to waste in the battle against the pandemic and for the recovery and healing of our nation to begin,” according to the letter.
The letter was signed by 166 executives, including the leaders of major post-trade systems, software, and services providers: Michael C. Bodson, president and CEO of the DTCC; and Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr., president and CEO, Moody’s Corp. Philip K. Ryan, chairman, Swiss Re Americas also signed the letter.
In addition, major financial services firms have endorsed the letter: David M. Solomon, chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs; Laurence D. Fink, chairman and CEO, BlackRock; Daniel Glaser, president and CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.; Barry M. Gosin, CEO, Newmark Knight Frank; Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer (COO), Blackstone; Charles R. Kaye, CEO, Warburg Pincus; Brian Duperreault, CEO, American International Group; Henry R. Kravis, co-chairman and co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.; and Kewsong Lee, CEO, The Carlyle Group.
The is an odd but welcome example of consensus amid oceans of turmoil and strife.
Let’s hope that the letter may be a ray of light and hope at a very dark time.
The death toll in the U.S. from the COVID-19 virus was reported to be 258,000 people on Nov. 24, 2020.
The full text of the letter can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IWYfEw
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