Dear New York Privileged Elites and CEOs,
Your silence on Governor Cuomo stepping down in the wake of alleged genocide and multiple sexual scandals is deafening. Given the number of political open letters you’ve signed in recent years, your failure to join the call for Governor Cuomo to step down, places your privilege and motive on brutal display.
Each of you run major organizations pledging to create a more “inclusive” and equitable workplace for minorities and women. Many of you have embraced CEO Activism, inserting yourself into our political process making high-profile and hyper-partisan comments against President Trump and Republican leaders. You all have worked overtime to place yourselves front and center on the “moral and woke” high ground with little to no regard how your disingenuous actions affect half of your stakeholders and the broader population.
On September 10, 2020 150 of you New York CEOs wrote to Mayor de Blasio regarding the deterioration of NYC in the wake of COVID. You expressed concern for the “widespread anxiety over public safety, cleanliness, and other quality of life issues that are contributing to deteriorating conditions in commercial districts and neighborhoods across the five boroughs.” The letter was written after a summer of extreme protest and violence that ravaged communities across the city calling for defunding the police. Yet you remained completely silent to the fact that many of you donated millions to the very groups who planned the protests, that decimated the communities you referenced in your letter. The destruction collapsed brick-and-mortar businesses already struggling due to COVID lockdowns, many owned by minorities and immigrants. https://pfnyc.org/news/letter-to-mayor-bill-de-blasio-from-nyc-business-...
On September 18, 2020, 177 of you New York CEOs wrote to both Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio regarding the recovery of New York. You praised Governor Cuomo’s leadership writing “We write to thank you for your leadership in managing New York’s response to the COVID-19 health crisis and to offer our assistance as the state and city begin to deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic.” You praised Cuomo for his successful management of being the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States stating, “As the first place in America to be struck hard by the coronavirus and the first to successfully manage its containment, New York should step up to chart the course for recovery of urban centers everywhere.” You never did pen an open letter to thank President Trump for Operation Warp Speed, which helped to speed up the development of vaccines saving millions around the world. https://pfnyc.org/news/letter-to-governor-andrew-cuomo-and-mayor-bill-de...
On November 23, 2020 166 New York CEOs wrote to President Trump interfering in the United States election process set up to protect our Republic from election fraud. Claiming to be business and civic leaders that reflect the political diversity of the country. You stated “Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming administration puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk.” You requested the “administrator of the federal General Services Administration immediately ascertain Joseph R. Biden and Kamala D. Harris are the president-elect and vice president-elect so that a proper transition can begin.” I don’t recall any of you penning an open letter against the Russia Hoax, false impeachment, or ongoing harmful narratives that the Trump Administration had to endure. None of you expressed concern for how that effected the nation, and some of you participated, but I digress. https://pfnyc.org/news/166-new-york-business-leaders-urge-the-trump-admi...
You all claim bi-partisanship when many of your companies have donated large sums of money to democrats including Governor Cuomo’s campaigns. It is no surprise that your morals, obligations, and concern for the state where you operate your businesses ended on November 23, 2020 when a final partisan letter to President Trump in favor of Biden/Harris was written and signed by all of you. Yet, you have shown ZERO concern whatsoever for the growing bi-partisan plea for Cuomo to step down as Governor of New York.
On February 15, 2021 Reuters wrote “New York Governor Andrew Cuomo acknowledged on Monday that his office should not have withheld data on COVID-19 nursing home deaths from state lawmakers, the public and press - falling short of an apology a senior aide made to lawmakers last week.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-new-york-idUSKBN2A...
On March 11, 2021 Reuters wrote “New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said on Thursday he authorized its Judiciary Committee to start an “impeachment investigation” into sexual misconduct allegations six women have made against Governor Andrew Cuomo.” SIX women including one who explains a severe sexual assault perpetrated by Governor Cuomo at the Governor’s mansion. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-cuomo-idUSKBN2B32HH
Cuomo’s egregiously negligent actions contributed to, and allegedly directly caused the deaths of 18,000 elderly in nursing homes. The way in which he mishandled the pandemic spread the virus across the country, potentially causing the deaths of 100’s of thousands of people. Cuomo has impacted your businesses, your former employee’s ability to support their families, and many of you might have employees who lost a loved one due to Governor Cuomo’s negligence. You all claim to be beholden to sustainability and equity for women and minorities, yet you remain silent on the multiple and growing egregious complaints against Governor Cuomo for the deaths of people in nursing homes, sexual harassment and sexual assault. You are failing to use your privilege to join the growing bi-partisan calls from elected officials asking Cuomo to step down.
As you remain silent you expose a reality where New York companies are beholden to the Democrats. As CEOs you serve to benefit from democrat policies and one-party regulations so radical that it will collapse life as we know it in this country for generations to come. Your main focus is to usher in the very lucrative Stakeholder & Inclusive Capitalism at any cost to society. An economic transition that would provide your companies with power and windfalls of tax money “gifted” by the Biden Administration to implement your long awaited and elite hybrid economic model, built from two of the most insidious and deadly economic ideologies known to history, Nazism and Communism.
In fact, many of you New York CEOs are members of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism classified as Guardians, Stewards or Allies of the new Stakeholder Capitalist economy which shifts trillions more in wealth to YOU while decimating the middle class globally (regardless of race or gender) through strict environmental regulations the Biden administration and Cuomo are happy to usher into the United States. The new economy has unregulated pledges to seventeen sustainability goals published by the United Nations and derived from a manifesto created by Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum, in 1973. The plan is so radical in fact, that it shifts wealth away from other nations to China. As CEOs of American corporations, many of you are United States citizens, but some of you immigrated here to run American corporations. Either way, this country has provided you with opportunity and wealth beyond your wildest dreams. Instead of being grateful, you bet against our Nation.
https://www.inclusivecapitalism.com/our-guardians/
https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants
https://widgets.weforum.org/history/1973.html
As you invest in China while remaining silent on their rampant slave labor practices including the genocide, sterilization and incarceration of the Muslim Uyghur population, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that all 170 of you are silent on the deaths of 18,000 of New York’s elderly in nursing homes, and sexual abuse allegations against New York Governor Cuomo. Many of you pledged support for China being elevated to the new global leader on the global stage in Davos, and have for years now. When Gretta Thunberg asked all of you “what have you done”, I am sure her intent wasn’t to support death and impoverishment of millions more, while supporting the expansion of mining cobalt through child slave labor for example.
In your letter written on November 23, 2020 to President Trump you closed with this “we urge respect for the democratic process and unified support for our duly elected leadership. There is not a moment to waste in the battle against the pandemic and for the recovery and healing of our nation to begin.” We as citizens of this great state and nation share your closing sentiment and request you write to Governor Cuomo in an open letter demanding his immediate resignation. When you are done proving you care about New York by demanding Cuomo’s resignation and helping the families of 18,000 elderly victims of COVID-19 nursing home deaths and 6 female victims of sexual abuse “recover and heal,” We the People further demand that YOU respect our democratic process and freedoms by keeping your privilege, greed, and socialist politics that serve to benefit your own wealth, out of our elections.
Sincerely,
Madame X
CEOs
Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital
Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.
Simon Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.
Leo Argiris, Chief Operating Officer, Americas Region, Arup
Jeffrey H. Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners
Robert Bakish, President & CEO, ViacomCBS Inc.
Ajay Banga, Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard
Neil Barr, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Erin Barringer, Director, Dalberg Americas
Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC
Bill Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc.
Seth Bernstein, President & CEO, AB
David Beveridge, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling, LLP
Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.
Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.
Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners
Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
Michael C. Bodson, President & CEO, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation
John Borthwick, Founder & CEO, Betaworks
John Bruckner, President, NY, National Grid
Ari Buchalter, President & CEO, Intersection
Donald A. Capoccia, Principal, BFC Partners
Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Richard A.C. Coles, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC
Cromwell Coulson, President & CEO, OTC Markets Group
Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture
Toby Dodd, President, New York Tri-State, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Brian Duperreault, Chief Executive Officer, American International Group, Inc.
Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.
Scott A. Edelman, Chairman, Milbank LLP
Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners
Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.
Douglas F. Eisenberg, Founder and CEO, A&E Real Estate, LLC
Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Vice Chairman, Portfolio Manager, Edgewood Management LLC
Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock
Peter Finn, Founding Partner, Finn Partners
John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk
Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers
William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC
Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company
Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Dave Gilboa, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder & CEO, MAG Partners LP
Daniel Glaser, President & CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Dexter Goei, Chief Executive Officer, Altice USA
Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
Perry Golkin, Chief Executive Officer, PPC Enterprises LLC
Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Knight Frank
Peter T. Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg
Jon Gray, President & COO, Blackstone
Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC
David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Kelly J. Grier, US Chair and Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP
Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital
Dale Hemmerdinger, Chairman, Atco Properties & Management, Inc.
Leslie W. Himmel, Managing Partner, Himmel & Meringoff Properties, Inc.
Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer, BCW
Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC
Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd
John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, Sesac
Roberta Kaplan, Founding Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP
Harry Kargman, Founder & CEO, Kargo Global, Inc.
Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC
Alfred F. Kelly Jr., Chairman & CEO, Visa Inc.
Anthony S. Kendall, Chairman & CEO, Mitchell & Titus, LLP
Richard A. Kennedy, President & CEO, Skanska USA, Inc.
Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.
Paul Knopp, U.S. Chair & CEO, KPMG LLP
Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Philip Krim, Co-Founder & CEO, Casper
Jeremy M. Kroll, Co-Founder & CEO, K2 Integrity
Barbara Armand Kushner, President, Armand Corporation
Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Kewsong Lee, Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group
Richard Lesser, President & CEO, The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC
Allan Levine, Chairman & CEO, Global Atlantic Financial Company
Robert A. Levine, Chief Executive Officer, RAL Companies & Affiliates, LLC
Pamela Liebman, President & CEO, The Corcoran Group, Inc.
Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Robert P. LoCascio, Founder & CEO, LivePerson, Inc.
Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer, Condé Nast
Mehdi Mahmud, CEO & President, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC
Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust
Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.
Theodore Mathas, Chairman & CEO, New York Life Insurance Company
Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer, WeWork
Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners
John McAvoy, Chairman, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.
Kevin J. McCarty, Chairman & CEO, West Monroe Partners
Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr., President & CEO, Moody’s Corporation
Avner Mendelson, President & CEO, Bank Leumi USA
Keith Mestrich, President & CEO, Amalgamated Bank
Marc Metrick, President & CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue
Edward J. Minskoff, Chairman & CEO, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.
Greg Mondre, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Silver Lake
Daniel Moore, President & CEO, Rockefeller Group International, Inc.
Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, MCR Development LLC
Daniel Nardello, Chief Executive Officer, Nardello & Co. LLC
Liz Neumark, Chair & Founder, Great Performances
Jon Oringer, Founder & Executive Chairman, Shutterstock, Inc.
Stan Pavlovsky, Chief Executive Officer, Shutterstock, Inc.
Mark Pearson, President & CEO, Equitable
Michael A. Peterson, Chairman & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chairman, Infor
Michael Phillips, President, Jamestown Properties LLC
Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York
Daniel Ramot, Co-Founder & CEO, Via
Steven L. Rattner, Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC
Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC
Michael Roberts, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA
James D. Robinson, III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures
Evan Roth, Co-Chief Executive Officer, BBR Partners, LLC
Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group
Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.
Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman & CEO, Savills Inc.
William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.
Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp
Philip K. Ryan, Chairman, Swiss Re Americas
Timothy Ryan, U.S. Chair & Senior Partner, PwC
Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.
Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Evercore Partners Inc.
Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP
Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC
Ari M. Shalam, Managing Director, RWN Real Estate Partners LLC
Kathleen Shanahan, Chief Executive Officer, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.
Suzanne Shank, President & CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC
Joseph Shenker, Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Tarek Sherif, Co-Founder & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.
Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC
Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.
David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs
Jeffrey Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Cowen
Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer
Robert K. Steel, Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners
Sanjay Swani, Partner, Tailwind Capital
Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst
Michael J. Sweeney, Eastern US President and Executive Vice President, HNTB Corporation
Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer, Accenture
Paul J. Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners Inc.
Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties
James S. Tisch, President & CEO, Loews Corporation
Gary M. Tischler, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC
Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty
Paul Todd, Chief Executive Officer, GLG
William B. Tyree, Managing Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
Joseph Ucuzoglu, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte
Robert Vecchio, Chief Executive Officer, LPI, Inc.
Ellis Verdi, President, DeVito/Verdi
George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC
Pamela S. Wasserstein, President, Vox Media
Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP
David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.
Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors LLC
Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
Nina Zagat, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Zagat
Tim Zagat, Co-Founder, Zagat
Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC
James Zelter, Co-President, Apollo Global Management, Inc.
Mitchell Zuklie, Chairman & CEO, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
