lisa d cook : commencement address - 2023 spring convocation commencement address by ms lisa d cook, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the 2023 spring convocation, michigan state university, michigan, 5 may 2023. * * * go, green! hello, michigan state university class of 2023! and congratulations to you and your friends and families! it is wonderful to be back on campus. the sparty statue. brody hall. the botanical gardens that dot the campus. the international center. the red cedar river. the im west basketball courts. the dairy store. the well - manicured lawns that are spartan green. it is also great to be back in michigan. the people, the scenery, the cider donuts... the way we can get all four seasons in a single day... my connection to michigan actually started long before i arrived at msu. i had family who moved up from georgia during the great migration, when african americans from across the south headed north in search of a better life. in total, 6 million people made that move from about 1910 to 1970. my relatives'story echoes the great american promise. they arrived in detroit with almost nothing, worked hard, studied intently, and were successful by any measure. they won scholarships to parochial schools, became principals, and rose to the executive level at chrysler. they even lived next to royalty... motown royalty, that is. both diana ross and mary wilson of the supremes were neighbors who also lived in the brewster - douglass housing project. i thought about them a lot as i considered what i wanted to say to msu's class of 2023. this is a very important moment, and i wanted to get it right, to do our spartans and my michigan roots justice. it is an honor to be invited to speak at commencement. an incredible, terrifying honor. i would be completely comfortable teaching an economics class. i don't know that anyone else would be thrilled, but i would be in my comfort zone. but this occasion calls for more - words of wisdom, hard - earned life advice, moments of gravity and levity. i will let you in on an industry secret : no one has ever, in the pursuit of great oratory, said, " this is a job for an economist! " in the end, i realized that the most important lessons i have learned were exemplified by my family's story -

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