Ernest G. Green

Ernest G. Green is a Civil-Rights Activist Co-Chairman and Partner of Madison Asset Managment Group LLC.. Previously, Mr. Green retired in 2009 from his position as Managing Director of Public Finance for Barclays Capital (formerly Lehman Brothers), which he joined in 1985. Featured in the 2006 list of Black Enterprise Magazine’s “75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street” he led teams of bankers responsible for the structuring and execution of transactions in the bond and real estate markets for both the federal and local governments in the US.
Mr. Green was one of the first black students to integrate the Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, following the Supreme Court ruling to desegregate public schools in 1954. Green is the oldest of the "Little Rock Nine," a group of high school students who entered Central High School on the morning of September 25, 1957, escorted by federal troops sent in by then President Dwight D. Eisenhower to protect the rights of black students. Mr. Green subsequently graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. and an M.A.

In 1965, Mr. Green began practicing employment law with a building-trade apprenticeship for the Adolph Institute, a project to help minority women in the South find opportunities for professional careers. He then directed the A. Philip Randolph Education Fund from 1968 to 1976. Between 1977 and 1981, he served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training during the Carter Administration. He served as Executive Director of the Recruitment and Training Program, Inc., an organization that recruits minorities for apprenticeship programs in the building trades. In addition, President Clinton appointed him to serve as Chairman of the African Development Foundation and Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, appointed him Chairman of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Capital Financing Advisory Board.

Mr. Green was awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, as one of the Little Rock Nine, Urban League’s Frederick Douglass Freedom Medal, Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, and the John D. Rockefeller Public Service Award. President Clinton awarded him with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor given to a civilian, for outstanding bravery during the integration of Central High School.