ALBANY - Governor David Paterson Monday convened a Council of Economic Advisors. The council includes Robert Rubin, former United States Secretary of the Treasury and current Chairman of the Executive Committee of Citi, Roger Altman, former United States Deputy Treasury Secretary and current Chairman and CEO of Evercore Partners and Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Prize Winner. The eighteen member council met today to review the current State budget and provide Governor Paterson with additional recommendations to address the fiscal crisis.

“In this difficult fiscal climate, I am grateful that so many of our nation's most gifted and renowned economists have agreed to serve on our Council of Economic Advisors,” said the Governor. “The men and women who have joined our council are seasoned experts from around the State and across the nation. Facing deteriorating economic times and declining revenues now, more than ever, we need creative ideas and solutions. I can think of no better collective group to help steer us back to fiscal health, and I look forward to hearing their recommendations.”

The Council Members include:

• Roger Altman, Chairman and CEO, Evercore Partners; Former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary
• Bernard Anderson, Economist, Senior Fellow, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
• Richard Deitz, Regional Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Buffalo)
• Blair Effron, Partner, Centerview Partners; former Vice-Chairman, UBS
• Isaac Ehrlich, Chairman and Professor, Department of Economics, SUNY Buffalo
• Kent Gardner, Ph.D., President and Chief Economist, Center for Governmental Research
• Dan O’Flaherty, Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia University
• James Orr, Assistant Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of NY
• James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
• Steve Rattner, Managing Principal, Quadrangle Group
• Richard Ravitch, Principal, Ravitch, Rice and Company
• Rae Rosen, Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of NY (NYC)
• Robert Rubin, Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Citi; Former United States Secretary of the Treasury
• Jerry Speyer, Chairman and CEO, Tishman SpeyerWilliam Spriggs, Chairman and Professor, Department of Economics, Howard University
• Joseph Stiglitz, Professor of Economics, Columbia University (Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics)
• Chris Varvares, President, Macroeconomic Advisors, LLC
• Robert Ward, Deputy Director, Rockefeller Institute of Government