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Person

Emma Oppenheim

Nationality:

American
Residence:

New York, New York
Occupation:

Senior Fellow at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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Emma Oppenheim is a left of center economic policy advocate working as a senior fellow at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She is a former program officer for “economic justice” at the Open Society Foundations, and former director of advocacy and policy at the Roosevelt Institute. 1

Oppenheim has appeared as a guest speaker for events sponsored by left-of-center organizations including the Wyss Foundation, Ford Foundation, Neighborhood Funders Group, and the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP). 2 3

Career

Emma Oppenheim graduated from Barnard College with a bachelor’s degree in urban studies in 2003. Oppenheim began working as a case manager for BronxWorks, formerly the Citizens Advice Bureau, from November 2004 until October 2005. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from Baruch College in 2008. 4

Oppenheim worked at SeedCo as a policy associate from 2005 through 2009. She became associate director of employment policy at the organization then known as the National Council of La Raza until 2012, before moving to a senior advisor position at the Center for Economic Opportunity, an agency within the New York City mayor’s office. 5

Oppenheim moved to the Open Society Foundations (OSF) as a program officer for “economic justice” in 2013. OSF, formally the Open Society Institute, is a private grant making foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros. Built on Soros’ anti-capitalist, redistributionist political philosophy, the organization gives nearly a billion dollars per year to left-wing organizations around the world to advance his vision of an “open society.” 6 7 8

After leaving Open Society Foundations in January 2020, Oppenheim became director of advocacy and policy at the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank that asserts that the system of free-market capitalism is inherently unjust. The organization works with liberal and Democratic lawmakers, economists, and academics to attempt to reshape policies, from the federal to the local levels. 9 10

Oppenheim left the Roosevelt Institute in November 2021 to work as a senior fellow for the office of the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This consumer-focused federal regulatory agency has been criticized for its structure and funding arrangements, which operate outside of normal Congressional appropriations and restrict the President’s ability to control the agency through personnel appointments. 11 12 13

Oppenheim is also listed as a contact for the OSF-affiliated Soros Economic Development Fund, a private “impact investing” foundation that administers the investments of the OSF Economic Justice Program. 14 15

Political Activities

Guest Speaking

Oppenheim has appeared as a guest speaker for several left-of-center organizations.

In 2017, she was a guest speaker representing the Open Society Foundations during a webinar titled “What’s Next in the Movement for Working Families: Opportunities for Offense and Building Power in the States.” The webinar was co-sponsored by OSF, Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce (GIST), Funders for a Just Economy, and Funders Committee for Civic Participation. 16

The event was also sponsored by the Wyss Foundation, a private foundation established by Hansjorg Wyss, an environmentalist activist and former CEO of the controversial medical device manufacturer Synthes, and the Ford Foundation, formerly the largest foundation in the United States. 17 18

She is also listed as a speaker for the “2018 Post-Election Briefing for Grantmakers: Philanthropy at the Crossroads” held in Washington, D.C. The event was sponsored by left-of-center organizations including GIST, the Neighborhood Funders Group, and the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP), a project of the left-wing pass-through group NEO Philanthropy that focuses its initiatives on several “civic engagement” items including increasing voter participation by left-leaning demographics, securing increased funding for and liberal policies within the decennial census, and winning the subsequent redistricting process for left-leaning parties. 19 20

References

  1. “Emma Oppenheim.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-oppenheim-80a2064b.
  2. “What’s Next in the Movement for Working Families.” Constant Contact. Accessed December 7, 2021. http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=dad5vqcab&oeidk=a07eedivphi8dba380a.
  3. “2018 Post-Election Briefing for Grantmakers.” EOFNetwork. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://eofnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-post-election-briefing-speaker-bios.pdf.
  4. “Emma Oppenheim.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-oppenheim-80a2064b.
  5. “Emma Oppenheim.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-oppenheim-80a2064b.
  6. “Emma Oppenheim.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-oppenheim-80a2064b.
  7. George Soros. “The Capitalist Threat.” The Atlantic. May 9, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/02/the-capitalist-threat/376773/.
  8. Open Society Institute, Return of A Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/03/OSF-2018-Form-990.pdf.
  9. “Emma Oppenheim.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-oppenheim-80a2064b.
  10. “About Us.” Roosevelt Institute. September 24, 2020. https://rooseveltinstitute.org/about/.
  11. “Emma Oppenheim.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-oppenheim-80a2064b.
  12. Patrick Temple-West. “Why the CFPB Has Become One of Washington’s Biggest Battlegrounds.” POLITICO. November 27, 2017. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/27/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-fight-democrats-republicans-190614.
  13. Kate Berry. “CFPB Critics to Supreme Court: The Agency Must Go.” American Banker. January 7, 2020. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/cfpb-critics-to-supreme-court-the-agency-must-go.
  14. “Soros Economic Development Fund Company Profile. Dun & Bradstreet. Accessed December 8, 2021. https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.soros_economic_development_fund.c2483aa36fe0af84f1c80bd66fa22290.html.
  15. “Open Society Economic Justice Program.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed December 8, 2021, https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/who-we-are/programs/economic-justice-program.
  16. “What’s Next in the Movement for Working Families.” Constant Contact. Accessed December 7, 2021. http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=dad5vqcab&oeidk=a07eedivphi8dba380a.
  17. “What’s Next in the Movement for Working Families.” Constant Contact. Accessed December 7, 2021. http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=dad5vqcab&oeidk=a07eedivphi8dba380a.
  18. “Stories.” Alumni. Accessed December 8, 2021. https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=2000.
  19. “2018 Post-Election Briefing for Grantmakers.” EOFNetwork. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://eofnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-post-election-briefing-speaker-bios.pdf.
  20.  “Funders Committee for Civic Participation Website Analysis and Recommendations March 14, 2012 Team Members: Shweta Aora, Kira Bacon, Aisha Bowers, Stacia. – Ppt Download.” SlidePlayer. Accessed December 8, 2021. http://slideplayer.com/slide/3886076/.
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