Ford Foundation president: ‘We need a new form of capitalism’ to ‘level the playing field’

The capitalist system is in the biggest need of reform in America, said Ford Foundation President Darren Walker.

A former banker, Walker said he is “a believer that there is no better mechanism to organize an economy than capitalism. But I also, as an advocate for capitalism, have to acknowledge its shortcomings— and the reality that in the United States, we have actually never given real capitalism a chance. What we need is a new form of stakeholder capitalism that recognizes the importance of all stakeholders, including employees, the communities, and suppliers."

Walker said "the actual boardroom of corporations needs to change. If you look, a year ago, we had a third of the S&P that did not even have a single African-American director. I can assure you that if you do not have representation at the board, you are not likely to see material, sustainable change at the C-suite and within the company more broadly.”

"We've got to change the rules of the game so that people have an opportunity to compete on a level playing field,” he said.

Walker believes that last year was one of “racial reckoning of the kind we have never seen in this country, and certainly in our lifetimes,” as major companies acknowledged that “corporate America has failed Black America.”