Deborah C. Wright (born 1958) is a board member of
Citigroup Inc. (Audit, Consumer Compliance and Ethics and Culture Committees),
Time Warner, Inc. (Audit Committee Chair) and Voya Financial (Finance Committee Chair). She is a member of the Board of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Executive Committee and Audit Chair).
Career
Wright was a senior fellow in the Economic Opportunity and Assets Division of the Ford Foundation from January 2015 through June 2016. Established in 1936, the foundation is an independent, global organization.
Wright was previously non-executive chairman of the board of Carver Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ - CARV) from January 2014 until December 2016, where she served as chairman and CEO from February 2005 to December 2014 and president and CEO from June 1, 1999. Carver Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, a federally chartered savings bank, and the nation's largest publicly traded African- and Caribbean- American operated bank, with approximately $700 million in assets and branches serving inner city neighborhoods in Harlem, Brooklyn and Queens. Black Enterprise Magazine named Carver "Financial Services Company of the Year" in 2006. The American Banker named Wright "Community Banker of the Year" in December 2003 and U.S. Banker named Wright one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking in October 2010.
She was president and CEO of the
Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone from 1996 to 1999 and led development and execution of an investment strategy to expand Harlem's economy, by investing a $250 million capital budget, funded by the public sector, to expand local businesses and cultural institutions.
Wright was appointed Commissioner of The
Department of Housing Preservation and Development in 1994 by Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General fr ...
, where she implemented an unprecedented privatization of residential buildings owned and managed by the
City of New York. Mayor
David N. Dinkins previously appointed her to the board of the New York City Housing Authority and the
New York City Planning Commission
The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, ...
. Wright began her professional career at the First Boston Corporation and the
Partnership for New York City
The Partnership for New York City, formerly called the New York City Partnership, is a nonprofit membership organization consisting of a select group of nearly three hundred CEOs ("Partners") from New York City's top corporate, investment and ent ...
.
She previously served on the Harvard University Board of Overseers, the board of The Children's Defense Fund and Kraft Foods Inc. She was a founding boardmember of the
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in November 2001, following the September 11 attacks, to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan. ...
, charged with rebuilding lower Manhattan in the aftermath of the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
Wright earned A.B., J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Harvard University.
[ She was raised in Bennettsville, South Carolina and Dallas, Texas.
]
References
Article on Deborah Wright's appointment at Carver Bancorp
Black Entrepreneur Profile of Deborah Wright
Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Deborah
1958 births
African-American bankers
American chief executives of financial services companies
American corporate directors
American nonprofit chief executives
American women bankers
American women chief executives
American bank presidents
Harvard Business School alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Kraft Foods people
Living people
Warner Bros. Discovery people
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women
20th-century African-American people
20th-century African-American women