Open Letter on Presidential Transition

America is being ravaged by a deadly pandemic with enormous social and economic consequences. The attention and energy of public and private sector leaders should be entirely focused on uniting our country to fight the coronavirus, provide aid to those in need, prevent further business disruption and loss of jobs, and invest in our economic recovery and revitalization.

Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished. Our national interest and respect for the integrity of our democratic process requires that the administrator of the federal General Services Administration immediately ascertain that Joseph R. Biden and Kamala D. Harris are the president-elect and vice president-elect so that a proper transition can begin. Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming administration puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk.

As business and civic leaders who reflect the political diversity of the country, we urge respect for the democratic process and unified support for our duly elected leadership. There is not a moment to waste in the battle against the pandemic and for the recovery and healing of our nation to begin.

Sincerely, 

Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital

Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.

Simon Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.

Leo Argiris, Chief Operating Officer, Americas Region, Arup

Jeffrey H. Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

Robert Bakish, President & CEO, ViacomCBS Inc.

Ajay Banga, Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard

Neil Barr, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Erin Barringer, Director, Dalberg Americas

Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC

Bill Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc.

Seth Bernstein, President & CEO, AB

David Beveridge, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling, LLP

Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.

Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.

Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners

Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker

Michael C. Bodson, President & CEO, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation

John Borthwick, Founder & CEO, Betaworks

John Bruckner, President, NY, National Grid

Ari Buchalter, President & CEO, Intersection

Donald A. Capoccia, Principal, BFC Partners

Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Richard A.C. Coles, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC

Cromwell Coulson, President & CEO, OTC Markets Group

Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture

Toby Dodd, President, New York Tri-State, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Brian Duperreault, Chief Executive Officer, American International Group, Inc.

Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.

Scott A. Edelman, Chairman, Milbank LLP

Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners

Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Douglas F. Eisenberg, Founder and CEO, A&E Real Estate, LLC

Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Vice Chairman, Portfolio Manager, Edgewood Management LLC

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock

Peter Finn, Founding Partner, Finn Partners

John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk

Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC

Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company

Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Dave Gilboa, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker

MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder & CEO, MAG Partners LP

Daniel Glaser, President & CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Dexter Goei, Chief Executive Officer, Altice USA

Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Perry Golkin, Chief Executive Officer, PPC Enterprises LLC

Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Knight Frank

Peter T. Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg

Jon Gray, President & COO, Blackstone

Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC

David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Kelly J. Grier, US Chair and Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital

Dale Hemmerdinger, Chairman, Atco Properties & Management, Inc.

Leslie W. Himmel, Managing Partner, Himmel & Meringoff Properties, Inc.

Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer, BCW

Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd

John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, Sesac

Roberta Kaplan, Founding Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP

Harry Kargman, Founder & CEO, Kargo Global, Inc.

Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC

Alfred F. Kelly Jr., Chairman & CEO, Visa Inc.

Anthony S. Kendall, Chairman & CEO, Mitchell & Titus, LLP

Richard A. Kennedy, President & CEO, Skanska USA, Inc.

Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.

Paul Knopp, U.S. Chair & CEO, KPMG LLP

Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Philip Krim, Co-Founder & CEO, Casper

Jeremy M. Kroll, Co-Founder & CEO, K2 Integrity

Barbara Armand Kushner, President, Armand Corporation

Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

Kewsong Lee, Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group

Richard Lesser, President & CEO, The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.

Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC

Allan Levine, Chairman & CEO, Global Atlantic Financial Company

Robert A. Levine, Chief Executive Officer, RAL Companies & Affiliates, LLC

Pamela Liebman, President & CEO, The Corcoran Group, Inc.

Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Robert P. LoCascio, Founder & CEO, LivePerson, Inc.

Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer, Condé Nast

Mehdi Mahmud, CEO & President, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust

Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.

Theodore Mathas, Chairman & CEO, New York Life Insurance Company

Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer, WeWork

Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners

John McAvoy, Chairman, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.

Kevin J. McCarty, Chairman & CEO, West Monroe Partners

Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr., President & CEO, Moody’s Corporation

Avner Mendelson, President & CEO, Bank Leumi USA

Keith Mestrich, President & CEO, Amalgamated Bank

Marc Metrick, President & CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue

Edward J. Minskoff, Chairman & CEO, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.

Greg Mondre, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Silver Lake

Daniel Moore, President & CEO, Rockefeller Group International, Inc.

Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, MCR Development LLC

Daniel Nardello, Chief Executive Officer, Nardello & Co. LLC

Liz Neumark, Chair & Founder, Great Performances

Jon Oringer, Founder & Executive Chairman, Shutterstock, Inc.

Stan Pavlovsky, Chief Executive Officer, Shutterstock, Inc.

Mark Pearson, President & CEO, Equitable

Michael A. Peterson, Chairman & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chairman, Infor

Michael Phillips, President, Jamestown Properties LLC

Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York

Daniel Ramot, Co-Founder & CEO, Via

Steven L. Rattner, Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC

Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC

Michael Roberts, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA

James D. Robinson, III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures

Evan Roth, Co-Chief Executive Officer, BBR Partners, LLC

Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group

Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman & CEO, Savills Inc.

William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.

Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp

Philip K. Ryan, Chairman, Swiss Re Americas

Timothy Ryan, U.S. Chair & Senior Partner, PwC

Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Evercore Partners Inc.

Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP

Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC

Ari M. Shalam, Managing Director, RWN Real Estate Partners LLC

Kathleen Shanahan, Chief Executive Officer, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Suzanne Shank, President & CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Joseph Shenker, Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Tarek Sherif, Co-Founder & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.

Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC

Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.

David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs

Jeffrey Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Cowen

Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer

Robert K. Steel, Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners

Sanjay Swani, Partner, Tailwind Capital

Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst

Michael J. Sweeney, Eastern US President and Executive Vice President, HNTB Corporation

Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer, Accenture

Paul J. Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners Inc.

Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties

James S. Tisch, President & CEO, Loews Corporation

Gary M. Tischler, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC

Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty

Paul Todd, Chief Executive Officer, GLG

William B. Tyree, Managing Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Joseph Ucuzoglu, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte

Robert Vecchio, Chief Executive Officer, LPI, Inc.

Ellis Verdi, President, DeVito/Verdi

George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Pamela S. Wasserstein, President, Vox Media

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP

David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.

Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors LLC

Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

Nina Zagat, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Zagat

Tim Zagat, Co-Founder, Zagat

Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC

James Zelter, Co-President, Apollo Global Management, Inc.

Mitchell Zuklie, Chairman & CEO, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP