The Aspen Institute

The ability to build personal wealth—defined as one’s savings and assets minus debts—is a central component of financial security and well-being for families across all income levels. Renters make up one-third of U.S. households (and counting), yet hold only 5 percent of total household wealth nationally. 

Higher interest rates and record-high housing cost burdens have exacerbated the issue, making the pursuit of homeownership and wealth-building all the more challenging. Housing affordability impacts Americans across the income spectrum and according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, no state in the U.S. has an adequate supply of affordable rental housing for its lowest-income renters. For the benefit of both individual households and the broader economy, renters need solutions that stabilize housing costs and expand opportunities to build wealth. 

Join the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program on January 21, 2025, at 10 a.m. ET to explore recent data on renters’ current wealth and financial well-being and discuss varying scalable solutions to reduce housing costs and increase asset ownership in the U.S.

Speakers

Shena Ashley, Vice President, Capital One Community Impact & Investment and President, Capital One Insights Center

At Capital One, Shena provides executive leadership across a broad group of capabilities and functions that help enterprise and external stakeholders advance products, policies, and programs that lead to better outcomes for consumers and communities. She oversees teams that span data analytics, survey research, and big data algorithmic modeling to develop insights that are either applied and delivered through community programs, used by enterprise teams to inform their strategies and mission-focused activities, or through broadly published research findings to external audiences through the Capital One Insights Center. She also provides vision, energy, and leadership for the philanthropic programs that Capital One advances through strategic community investments.

An accomplished leader, educator, consultant, and researcher, Dr. Ashley has been quoted as an expert thought leader on issues related to economic prosperity, consumer financial wellbeing, philanthropy, and charitable giving in several national media outlets and has informed a range of national policy areas with data and insights.

Dr. Ashley holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Georgia Tech and Georgia State University, a MPP from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State University, a HBCU in Nashville, TN.

Steven Brown, Director of Insights and Evidence, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

Steven Brown is the Director of Insights and Evidence for the Financial Security Program. The Insights and Evidence team drives FSP’s efforts to promote data and research-informed strategies that advance household financial prosperity.

His professional work has focused on understanding the structural factors that impact wealth-building and inclusive economic opportunity. Prior to Aspen, he was a director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and served on assignment to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he supported their equitable research and policy implementation efforts. He also spent several years at the Urban Institute, where he helped stand up the Office of Race and Equity Research and authored numerous briefs and reports on racial wealth gaps, disparities in employment opportunities, economic mobility metrics, and advancing equity through data. His research and perspective have been cited in The Washington Post, CNN, Marketplace, NPR, and Vox.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in sociology from Harvard University, where he was also an inequality and social policy doctoral fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

Mat Despard, Vice President of Research and Policy, SaverLife

Mat is Vice President of Research and Policy with SaverLife, leading efforts to deliver actionable insights to influence public policy and private sector change to improve the lives of people and families living on low-to-moderate incomes in the U.S. Before joining SaverLife in 2024, Mat spent 17 years in academia, teaching and advising graduate students in Social Work and Business and conducting research about household financial security with appointments at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Michigan, Washington University in St. Louis, and UNC Greensboro and chairing and serving on the Academic Research Council of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from 2021-2023. Topics covered in his research include emergency and retirement savings, student debt, material hardship, tax policy, the COVID-19 pandemic, credit health, financial inclusion, behavioral economics, employment, and workplace benefits. Prior to his academic career, Mat worked for 14 years in and with nonprofit organizations mostly focused on low-to-moderate-income families. He received his MSW and PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill.

David Kemper, CEO, Trust Neighborhoods

David is the CEO of Trust Neighborhoods. He helped create the New York City’s Division of Capital Planning as its second employee, and helped build Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs from a four person team to forty while managing its housing and built environment work. He began his career as an urban fellow and project manager in affordable housing finance under New York City Mayors Bloomberg and de Blasio, managing a pipeline of LIHTC and HUD multifamily deals. He has a BA in history from Yale College, an MPP from the University of Oxford, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Genevieve Melford, Managing Director, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

As Managing Director of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP), Genevieve oversees the program’s strategy, activities, and operations to illuminate and solve the most critical financial challenges facing American households and to make financial security for all a top national priority.

Genevieve joined Aspen FSP as its inaugural Director of Insights and Evidence, a role in which she built and led a team of talented researchers synthesizing knowledge and data on topics including consumer debt, financial stability, housing security, caregiving, the financial lives of workers, inclusive financial systems, household wealth, and the financial well-being of youth and young adults.

Before joining FSP, Genevieve worked at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where she led the Bureau’s work to define, measure, and study the drivers of consumer financial well-being and effectiveness research on financial education and capability strategies. While at the CFPB, she co-chaired the interagency Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC)’s Research and Evaluation Committee. Before that, she served as Director of Research at Prosperity Now, a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families and communities. Genevieve holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and a B.A. in economics from Wesleyan University.

Markita Morris-Louis, CEO, Compass Working Capital

Markita Morris-Louis (Lou-wee), Esq. proudly serves as Chief Executive Officer for Compass Working Capital, a national nonprofit engaging in policy advocacy, direct service, and capacity building to end asset poverty for families with low-incomes and to narrow the racial and gender wealth divides. Markita leads a dynamic team that reflects the diversity and vibrancy of the families Compass serves. Her leadership is focused on centering equity in every aspect of Compass’ work, leveraging asset building as a pathway out of poverty, and amplifying the voices of those Compass serves to shift narratives about communities experiencing poverty. Prior to becoming CEO, Markita was Compass’ founding Chief Strategy Officer, leading the organization’s national strategy for scale and impact.

Markita’s 25 year career spans real estate law, community development, economic justice, consumer protection, and asset building. Markita has served on numerous boards including previously chairing the Affordable Housing Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and being appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to serve as a trustee of the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts Board. She currently serves on the Board of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and on the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For her service to Greater Philadelphia, Markita has been named a Woman of Distinction by the Philadelphia Business Journal, a Social Mobility Innovator by the Social Innovations Journal, and was named to the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Power 100 list. Markita is a daughter, wife, mother of Black sons, a sister, a sister-friend, and a mentor. She grew up in subsidized housing in North Philadelphia and believes that reparative justice, including financial reparations for descendants of American enslavement, is necessary to close the racial wealth gap.

Markita holds degrees from Brown University and NYU School of Law and studied at the University of Natal in Durban, Republic of South Africa. 

We are grateful to the Capital One Foundation for their partnership and support for this webinar.