What Ray McGuire’s Departure Means for Black Executive Representation
This article is from our archives, originally written on November 4th, 2020.
On October 15th, Wall Street lost one of its few black executives, but New York gained another mayoral candidate. Ray McGuire, vice chairman and head of global and investment banking at Citigroup, left the bank Thursday morning to begin his campaign. McGuire enters the race, while New York faces some of its largest social and financial problems. With one in three businesses closed and one million New Yorkers without jobs, New York is in its largest financial crisis since 1970. Equally pressing is the crisis of systemic racism in New York–from discriminatory policing, inequalities in housing and health care and increases in gun violence, New York has a long way to go. McGuire is ready to tackle both of these crises. With over 20 years of experience on Wall Street, McGuire is well equipped to rebuild New York’s economy. However, his work won’t stop with the financial crisis, McGuire plans to address systemic racism head on by preparing to rethink and restructure institutions from the police department to the public school system. Despite McGuire’s promising plan for the city, his departure from Wall Street as one of the few black executives, is a pressing reminder of the need for more black representation in executive roles.
McGuire’s rise to a Wall Street executive was not without adversity, and he knows he is the exception and not the rule. McGuire was raised by a single mother in Dayton, Ohio. He attended Hotchkiss and Harvard on scholarship, where he earned a A.B and eventually a JD/MBA. McGuire was the first in his family to graduate from college, nonetheless working on Wall Street. However, McGuire admits it wasn’t easy getting there. On his campaign website he says, “almost no one in Wall Street corporate finance looked like me...I had to work twice as hard to be considered half as good.” Despite these racial and socio-economic barriers, McGuire earned his way into prestigious institution after prestigious institution, eventually making a name for himself as a leading deal maker.
However, McGuire’s calling to serve New York extends much farther than Wall Street. As a black man, McGuire personally understands the urgency to end New York’s structures of systemic racism. He notes in a Citi report titled Closing Racial Inequality Gaps, “even today, with all those credentials and as one of the leading executives on Wall Street, I am still seen first as a six-foot-four two-hundred-pound Black man… I could have been George Floyd.” McGuire has a plan to combat systemic racism in New York, addressing discriminatory policing, rethinking public safety and working toward housing, health and education equity. McGuire also plans to leverage his Wall Street experience to rebuild New York’s crumbling economy. He also notes on his campaign website that “the city is a big complex business that is failing right now. It needs a chief executive who has a vision, who knows how to spark growth, revive the economy, attract the best talent and get this city back to work.” McGuire is prepared to fight for New York–reviving its economy and making its structures fair for all.
Clearly, McGuire is poised to be a top candidate for mayor. However, his departure from Wall Street as one of a handful of black executives demonstrates the urgent need for black representation in the industry. Prior to McGuire’s departure, black men represented 2% of executives at Citi, and his departure leaves the bank with no black executive representation. McGuire's decision to depart Citi, should not destroy black executive representation in the bank. This is an unfair burden for McGuire.
Ultimately, it is not a question of whether McGuire ought to serve in the political or financial sphere but that his personal decision to leave one sector should not drastically change its representation.