December 9, 2021 | WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Student Borrower Protection Center is announcing new additions to the organization’s Advisory Board. The new slate of members are nationally recognized policymakers, advocates, and experts who bring decades of consumer financial protection, higher education, and social justice expertise to support the SBPC’s mission to end the student debt crisis. These individuals will provide critical insight and guidance to support the organization’s work to protect student loan borrowers.
The new members of the Advisory Board are:
- Richard Dubois, Executive Director, National Consumer Law Center: Mr. Dubois is a life-long consumer advocate with wide-ranging experience in the field. He has been with NCLC since 1997, having served as Deputy Director, Director of Development and Project Planning, and as an attorney focusing on foreclosure prevention and sustainable homeownership issues.
- Merf Ehman, Executive Director, Columbia Legal Services: Ehman leads CLS’s efforts to prioritize advocacy that supports community-led social justice movements that transform racialized systems and eradicate racism. In this work, Ehman focuses on creating an adaptive organization that prioritizes anti-racist efforts internally and externally, and developing CLS’s legal skills to support and build collective power around initiatives identified by the communities most impacted.
- Alexis Goldstein, Financial Policy Director, Open Markets Institute: Ms. Goldstein is a financial regulatory expert and former Wall Street professional. Prior to joining Open Markets Institute in 2021, she worked on financial regulatory policy, climate finance, consumer and investor protection, and higher education for Americans for Financial Reform.
- Kristin McGuire, Executive Director, Young Invincibles: Mrs. McGuire is a career community organizer who empowers young adults to advocate for higher education, health care, and economic policies. Before becoming Executive Director, Mrs. McGuire worked as the Young Invincibles West Regional Director where she helped lead policy formation to support the financial health of young Californians.
- Angela Peoples, Co-Founder, The South: Ms. Peoples is an activist, strategist, trainer, and social justice economist focused on building movements for gender justice and Black liberation. In addition to co-founding the South, Ms. Peoples is also the Director of Black Womxn For, an organization creating space for Black Womxn and Gender Non-Conforming leaders to gather. Ms. Peoples previously worked in the Office of Students at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Ellen Rosenblum, Attorney General, State of Oregon: Ms. Rosenblum is the first woman to serve as Oregon’s Attorney General, having been elected in November, 2012. Her priorities include consumer protection and civil rights. Ms. Rosenblum has had an extensive law enforcement career at both the state and federal levels. Prior to becoming Oregon Attorney General in 2012, she was a federal prosecutor as well as a state trial and appellate judge.
These new members join other leading experts from across the national and state-level policymaker, advocacy, labor, and regulatory spaces on the SBPC Advisory Board.
See the full list of Advisory Board members
“I’m thrilled to be able rely on the incredible attorneys, advocates, and experts joining our Advisory Board,” said SBPC Executive Director Mike Pierce. “These leaders will shape the work we do to stand up for people with student debt and help SBPC center the experiences of the most economically vulnerable student loan borrowers in our pathbreaking research, litigation, and advocacy.”
“I am so grateful for and humbled by the support of this esteemed group of leaders,” said Policy Director and Managing Counsel Persis Yu. “The breadth of experience standing up for the rights of consumers that this Advisory Board brings will be a huge benefit in the fight for student loan borrowers.”
These new additions to the Advisory Board emphasize the SBPC’s mission to address problems and fight for borrowers in all areas of the student loan market. This group will work closely with SBPC’s leadership to support and inform organizational priorities and strategy.
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The Student Borrower Protection Center is a nonprofit organization focused on alleviating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans. The SBPC engages in advocacy, policymaking, and litigation strategy to rein in industry abuses, protect borrowers’ rights, and advance economic opportunity for the next generation of students.