─ For Official Use Only ─

Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity

(TACRE) Meeting 

June 8, 2023
─ For Official Use Only ─

Agenda 

Call to Order/Roll Call 1:00 – 1:05 Snider Page, DFO 

Opening Remarks 1:05 – 1:12 Michael Nutter, Chair & Felicia Wong, Vice Chair

Treasury Opening Remarks 1:12 – 1:15 Janis Bowdler, Counselor for Racial Equity

Briefing on EO 14091 and Q&A 1:15 – 1:45 Jenny Yang, Deputy Assistant to the President for 

Racial Justice and Equity, Domestic Policy Council

Break 1:45 – 2:00 All 

Secretary Remarks and Q&A 2:00 – 2:30 Secretary Janet Yellen 

Briefing on IRS Direct File Report and Q&A 2:30 – 3:05 Laurel Blatchford, Chief Implementation Officer, IRA

Subcommittee Briefings 3:05 – 4:05 Michael Nutter, Chair

• Research and Data Equity 3:05 – 3:20 Dr. Dorothy Brown & Dr. John Friedman 

• IRA Implementation 3:20 – 3:35 Amanda Renteria 

• Financial Health & Capital Access 3:35 – 3:50 Bulbul Gupta & Valerie Red-Horse Mohl

• Internal Staffing and Culture 3:50 – 4:05 Michael McAfee 

Committee Discussion/Recommendations 4:05 – 4:30 All 

Review/Discussion on Public Comments 4:30 – 4:55 Michael Nutter, Chair & Felicia Wong, Vice Chair 

New Business/Next Meeting (September 19th) 4:55 – 5:00 Felicia Wong, Vice Chair

Adjourn 5:00 Michael Nutter, Chair
─ For Official Use Only ─

Call to Order/Roll Call 

Snider Page, Designated Federal Official/Acting Chief, 

Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Welcome and Opening Remarks 

Michael Nutter, Chair 

Felicia Wong, TACRE Vice-Chair
─ For Official Use Only ─

Opening Remarks – TACRE Chair/Vice Chair 

Felicia Wong (Vice-Chair)

President and Chief Executive Officer, The Roosevelt 

Institute

Felicia Wong, President and 

Chief Executive Officer, The 

Roosevelt Institute. Felicia 

leads this non-profit 

organization, which focuses 

on progressive economics, 

invests in young leaders, and 

advances policies that bring 

the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt into the 21st 

century. Felicia is a political scientist whose work has 

focused on identifying barriers to an inclusive economy, 

industrial strategy, decarbonization, economic 

transformation, and strategies for long-term political 

change. Felicia Wong represents the non-profit sector.

Michael Nutter (Chair)

David N. Dinkins Professor of Professional Practice in 

Urban and Public Affairs, Columbia University and 

former Mayor of Philadelphia

Prior to being a Professor 

for Columbia University, 

Michael served as the 

Mayor, City of Philadelphia 

for eight years, where he 

made significant progress 

on high school graduation 

and college degree 

attainment rates, adding hundreds of miles of bike 

lanes and trails and launched the first low-income 

friendly bike share system in America. Michael actively 

recruited businesses to set up shop in Philadelphia, 

with tax reforms, better business services and 

international trade missions. Michael made a 

commitment to strong financial stewardship, resulting 

in the City’s credit rating being upgraded to “A” 

category by the three major credit rating agencies for 

the first time since the 1970s. Michael has a strong 

background in management of a large urban center, 

public service, and civic engagement. Michael Nutter

represents local government.
─ For Official Use Only ─

Treasury Opening Remarks 

Janis Bowdler, Racial Equity Counselor 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Opening Remarks - Racial Equity Counselor 

Janis Bowdler serves as Treasury's first Counselor for Racial Equity. Prior to Treasury, she

has spent the last two decades advancing economic equity solutions for 

communities of color and breaking down the barriers that underpin the disparities in 

wealth and financial security by race and gender.

Janis’ career has spanned local service, national advocacy, and international 

philanthropy. She launched her career in her native Northeast Ohio with Famicos 

Foundation, a community development corporation working in the Hough and Glenville 

neighborhoods of Cleveland, Ohio. As a Project Manager she developed and preserved 

affordable homeownership and rental opportunities for the residents of these historically 

African American neighborhoods.

She then spent 10 years at UnidosUS, then National Council of La Raza, advocating for 

economic mobility opportunities for Latino families. As the Director of Economic Policy, she 

led research, advocacy, and policy development in the areas of job creation and job quality, 

retirement security, housing, banking, community development and consumer protection.

Most recently, Janis served the President of the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Foundation. Under her leadership, the firm launched several 

critical initiatives that have expanded capital for entrepreneurs of color, improved access to banking products and services, expanded 

access to new job skills, and built more inclusive neighborhoods. Janis played a critical role in developing the firm’s incremental $30 

billion racial equity commitment.

Janis has authored a number of publications on financial opportunity and economic mobility. Most recently, she co-authored “Building 

Equitable Cities: How to Drive Economic Mobility and Regional Growth” with Henry Cisneros and Jeff Lubell.

Janis received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Malone College in Canton, Ohio and a Master of Science degree from Cleveland State

University. She is a proud Latina, a yoga instructor, mom to one daughter, two dogs, and a bunny. She lives with her husband and her 

family in Takoma Park, Maryland.
─ For Official Use Only ─

Introduction of Jenny Yang 

Janis Bowdler, Racial Equity Counselor 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Jenny Yang, Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice and Equity

Jenny R. Yang serves at the White House Domestic Policy Council as 

Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice and Equity. She leads 

DPC’s portfolio across a broad range of equity issues, including criminal 

justice, democracy and voting, the racial wealth gap, disability policy, 

LGBTQI+ rights, and Native Affairs. From January 20, 2021 through 

March 2023, Ms. Yang served as the Director of the Office of Federal 

Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor where 

she led equal opportunity enforcement in federal contracting. 

In the Obama-Biden Administration, from 2013-2018, Ms. Yang served as 

Chair, Vice-Chair, and Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission where she tackled systemic discrimination,

including requiring employers to report pay data and creating a task 

force to study and prevent harassment. 

After her EEOC service, as a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, Ms. Yang worked to revitalize anti-discrimination laws to 

protect workers as structural and technological changes transform work. In addition, as a strategic partner with Working 

IDEAL, Ms. Yang assisted employers in preventing harassment and promoting equality of opportunity through the design 

of employment practices. 

Prior to that, Ms. Yang spent over a decade representing workers in litigation in private practice and as a Senior Trial 

Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section. A graduate of 

Cornell University, she earned a B.A. in Government and a J.D. from NYU School of Law. Ms. Yang served as co-chair of 

NAPAWF’s first national governing board. 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Introduction of Secretary Yellen 

Janis Bowdler, Racial Equity Counselor 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary 

On January 26, 2021, Janet Yellen was sworn in as the 78th Secretary of the 

Treasury of the United States. An economist by training, she took office after 

almost fifty years in academia and public service. She is the first person in 

American history to have led the White House Council of Economic Advisors, the 

Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department. 

Prior to serving at the Treasury Department, Secretary Yellen was a 

Distinguished Fellow in Residence with the Economic Studies Program at the 

Brookings Institution. During 2020-2021 she served as President of the 

American Economic Association. She is a member of the American Academy of 

Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. She was also a founding 

member of the Climate Leadership Council.

Secretary Yellen has served on the advisory boards of the Bloomberg New 

Economic Forum, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and Fix the 

Debt Coalition (CRFB), and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth Steering 

Committee. She was elected to the Yale Corporation as an alumni fellow in 

2000, serving until 2006.

In 1967, Secretary Yellen graduated from Brown University and went on to earn 

her PhD at Yale. Dr. Yellen has received honorary doctorates from Bard College, 

Brown, the London School of Economics, NYU, the University of Baltimore, the 

University of Michigan, the University of Warwick and Yale from which she also 

received the Wilbur Cross Medal for distinguished achievements in scholarship, 

teaching, academic administration, and public service.
─ For Official Use Only ─

IRS Direct File Report 

Merici Vinton, Deputy, Direct File

Laurel Blatchford, IRA Chief Implementation Officer 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Merici Vinton, Deputy, Direct File

Merici Vinton, the Deputy for Direct File, is currently on detail to the IRS from 

the US Digital Service. USDS is a team of technologists based out of the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) who are deployed to implementation, digital, 

and modernization projects across the federal government.

Merici joined USDS in 2021 after living in London for 9 years. While in London, 

she held multiple strategy and innovation positions at IDEO, Fjord, and Made by 

Many and worked with clients such as the BBC, Knight Foundation, Vodafone, 

and HSBC.

Merici is also the Co-Founder and former CEO of Ada’s List, a global community 

of women and non-binary people who work in technology. The Ada’s List 

mission is powerful and seeks change in existing, patriarchal and racist power 

structures; this mission has created a global movement of over 8,000 women to support one another and raise each 

other up. Merici sold Ada's List to TechLadies in 2022.

Before moving to London in 2012, she was one of the first employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a 

US regulatory body created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Merici worked with the CFPB Director to 

develop the technology strategy for the agency and set up its first tech and digital team. She strongly steered the 

strategy towards one of openness from the get-go, building the agency on foundations of open source, open data and 

transparency. Their trailblazing vision set the standard for modern web services in the federal government. 

Merici lives on Capitol Hill in DC with her husband and 2 kids.
─ For Official Use Only ─

Laurel Blatchford, IRA Chief Implementation Officer 

Laurel Blatchford was appointed as Treasury’s Chief Implementation Officer for the 

Inflation Reduction Act in January 2023. In this newly created role, Laurel is leading a 

team focused on the implementation of Treasury’s provisions of the IRA across 

Treasury and the IRS. 

Over the course of her 25-year career, Laurel has held senior leadership roles in the 

non-profit, government and philanthropic sectors. Most recently, as Managing Director 

and Senior Advisor at Blue Meridian Partners, she collaborated on $100M of 

investments focused on economic mobility and advised Blue Meridian’s portfolio of 

grantees on their approach to policy as a tool for impact and influence. Prior to joining Blue Meridian in 2020, she was 

President of Enterprise Community Partners, one of the nation's largest affordable housing and community development 

intermediaries. During her six-year tenure at Enterprise, Laurel led a team of 250 staff working in 12 markets across the 

United States that built capacity on the ground, piloted new advisory solutions for local leaders, and connected partners 

to capital, including public sector grant funding as well as private capital. 

Laurel also has extensive federal and local government experience; she served as a senior political appointee in the 

Obama Administration, including as Executive Director of the Hurricane Sandy Task Force and Chief of Staff at the US 

Department of Housing and Urban Development between 2009 and 2013. Prior to that, she served as a senior leader at 

City Hall and in New York City’s housing agency during the Bloomberg Administration. She also served on both the 

Obama-Biden and Biden-Harris presidential transition team and was nominated for a Senate-confirmed role in the BidenHarris Administration. She is a graduate of Williams College and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and lives 

with her family in Washington DC. 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Subcommittee Briefings

Michael Nutter, TACRE Chair
─ For Official Use Only ─

Subcommittees Chairs & Co-Chairs 

Research and Data Equity

Dr. Dorothy Brown Dr. John Friedman 

Martin D. Ginsburg Chair in Taxation PDBF Distinguished Professor of Economics 

& Professor of Law & International and Public Affairs 

Georgetown University Brown University

Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Implementation

Amanda Renteria

CEO

Code for America

Financial Health Inclusion & Capital Access

Bulbul Gupta Valerie Red-Horse Mohl

President and CEO Co-Founder

Pacific Community Ventures Known Holdings

Internal Staffing & Culture

Michael McAfee

President and CEO

Policy Link
─ For Official Use Only ─

Subcommittee Discussion/Recommendations 
─ For Official Use Only ─

Review of Public Comments 

Michael Nutter, TACRE Chair

Felicia Wong, TACRE Vice-Chair
─ For Official Use Only ─

New Business/Next Meeting 

Felicia Wong, TACRE Vice-Chair
─ For Official Use Only ─

Adjourn 

Michael Nutter, TACRE Chair