Franklin D. Raines

Frank Raines is Executive Chairman and Co-founder of the digital services companies XAPPmedia and Bespoken.io. The first African American CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, Frank retired as Chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae in 2004. He previously served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton Administration where he led the negotiations that resulted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Frank began his professional career working for Senator Moynihan in the White House. He later became the assistant director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff in the Carter administration and followed that role becoming associate director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget from 1978-1979. Frank later joined investment bank Lazard Freres & Co where he served as partner from 1985 -1991. Frank has served on the board of Directors of six Fortune 100 companies, and also served as Co-Chairman of the Business Roundtable and Vice Chairman of the Business Council. Frank has been an investor and board member of several start-up companies and was a member of the Board of the National Urban League and the fundraising cabinet of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. He was a founding member of the Advisory Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Originally from Seattle, Washington, he earned his B.A. (magna cum laude) from Harvard College in 1971. He attended Magdalen College, Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from the Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 1976. He is also the recipient of the Harvard Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal by the Department of Defense. He has been elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Social Insurance, and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.