Citigroup executive Ray McGuire has announced that he will run to become the next mayor of New York, New York. Citigroup executives Michael Corbat and Paco Ybarra informed employees on Thursday that McGuire was leaving to “explore opportunities that will allow him to pursue his lifelong passion for public service."
During his campaign, McGuire will be joined by what is being described as an "A+" team. One of his closest friends, former Infor CEO Charles Phillips, will serve as the co-chair of his campaign.
“NYC faces its largest economic challenge in decades and we need to execute with purpose and efficiency,” Phillips said.
“Ray is the right person to lead and unify the city to create something better when we get through this. He took the time to prepare and he’s more than ready to outwork everyone.”
Also, Valerie Jarrett, a former advisor to President Barack Obama, will likely become a co-chair for McGuire's campaign. Other names that may possibly join the campaign include acclaimed director Spike Lee.
Prior to entering into the city's mayoral race, McGuire helped write Citi's “Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps” report. He has also been vocal regarding policing in America.
“Yet even today, with all those credentials and as one of the leading executives on Wall Street, I am still seen first as a six-foot-four, two-hundred-pound Black man wherever I go — even in my own neighborhood. I could have been George Floyd,” he wrote in Citi's "Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps" report.
McGuire has entered a crowded a crowded field of more than a dozen candidates. Voters will take to the polls in November 2021. If elected, McGuire would become the second Black mayor in the city's history.
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