Rios: There is definitely a need for people to have the fundamentals. I think there were definitely people who did not have all the right information in front of them. And I think there was definitely some predatory lending that happened with very specific constituencies. Finan- cial literacy is probably the best tool we can use moving forward to make sure we can avoid what happened to some people in the crisis.


WOC: What can Treasury do to aid that effort?


Rios: We recently launched our National Strategy for Financial Capability and Access. That really provides some fundamental compe- tencies that both the public sector and private sector can use as they roll out their own specific strategies.


WOC: President Obama often talks about innovation being key to our financial future. Is he right? And how do we get there?


WOC: Why is it that in 2011 so many people in this country remain unbanked?


Rios: There is certainly an element of trust that comes in when people don’t want to open up a bank account. And I think certainly in some cases the crisis perhaps reinforced that sense that perhaps some folks can’t be trusted with other people’s money.


“If you would have told me three years ago that I would be doing this job, I don’t think I would have believed you. The moral of that story is you have to keep all your options open, work really, really hard, and focus on what’s in front of you. And then follow your passion.”


—Rosie Rios


WOC: Why did you want this job? And how did you even get in the loop for it?


Rios: I was one of the fortunate ones who was on the Treasury-Federal Reserve transition team right after the election. So I took a leave of ab- sence from my job and I worked on a number of projects, but my ef- forts focused mostly on the external stakehold- er outreach on behalf


Rios: Absolutely, he’s right. Most recently the president has launched this initiative to out-innovate, out-com- pete, out-educate. In order for us to stay competitive, that includes a major investment in education. It is definitely to invest in what I call human capital.


WOC: How do you stay ahead of the curve, though, when even as the federal government is trying to invest many governors are disinvesting from education be- cause of their states’ budget problems?


Rios: It is definitely a balancing act. It is the role of the government to provide additional capacity, especially in areas where capacity is more limited. Though this is something that, from a state-by-state perspective, the administration definitely looks at.


WOC: What can the government do to bring more African Americans, Hispanics and women into high-tech areas?


Rios: There are certainly some specific initiatives. There is this new group that focuses on historically black col- leges. That is just one example of the kinds of things governments can do to help.


of Federal Reserve and Treasury. I managed the process by which constituencies, business organizations would express their concerns, recommendations and sugges- tions to the administration. So I was recommended for a permanent appointment after that process. For me, it was more a convergence of my career path whereby my career at that point had focused on three specific areas: economic development, real estate and invest- ment management. For me, that translated into jobs, housing and access to capital, something that I thought would be very relevant to what was happening in this economic recovery. And so I chose this position because I felt it had the most flexibility in terms of evolving with every administration and, in this particularly case, evolv- ing into a position that was able to reflect those issues of community development that are important to me.


WOC: What’s next for you?


Rios: If you would have told me three years ago that I would be doing this job, I don’t think I would have be- lieved you. The moral of that story is you have to keep all your options open, work really, really hard, and focus on what’s in front of you. And then follow your passion. And what I am doing now is my passion.


by Michael A. Fletcher, editors@ccgmag.com www.womenofcolor.net WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2011 11


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