Gregory Haile is the Chief Executive Officer of Upwardly Global, the leading organization focused on helping internationally trained professionals access opportunities in the U.S. workforce. Haile has devoted his career to ensuring that individuals are empowered with the skills needed to improve their livelihoods and that opportunity is not limited by circumstance. He champions a vision of a United States that fully embraces all of its talent to drive growth and global competitiveness.
Haile also serves as Board Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta overseeing the management of the Bank’s operations and providing insights to help inform monetary policy deliberations. The Atlanta Fed serves the Sixth Federal Reserve District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. As part of the nation’s central bank, the Atlanta Fed works to strengthen the economy and communities in the District by fostering the stability, integrity, and efficiency of the nation’s monetary, financial, and payments systems.
He is the first educator to chair the Atlanta Fed in 70 years, having previously served as President of Broward College, one of the largest community colleges in the United States, serving more than 55,000 students. Under his leadership, Broward College earned a top-ten ranking from the Aspen Institute in every eligible year of his tenure, and he was recognized by the American Association of Community Colleges as one of the top five community college presidents in the nation.
Haile is also currently a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where his research explores the intersection of economic mobility, workforce readiness, and artificial intelligence as critical elements of U.S. national security.
Haile has significant leadership experience in the corporate sector, having served as a partner with the Strategos Group, where he founded and led the consulting firm’s Higher Education and Workforce Advisory Practice, advising businesses that are leveraging innovation to bring transformational opportunities to college students across the United States; and having spent the early years of his career as a securities/corporate litigator.
Haile has served in more than 40 board or committee leadership roles and has held 10 board chairmanships. In 2024, he completed service as a member of the U.S.-EU Talent for Growth Task Force, co-chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Secretary of State. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Young Presidents’ Organization.
He holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was recognized as the most outstanding graduate in his college. Haile received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Nova Southeastern University and is a Fellow of the Vanderbilt University Higher Education Management Institute.
Education
Juris Doctorate | Columbia University School of Law
Bachelor of Science, Justice Studies| Arizona State University
Summer Fellow, Higher Education Administration | Vanderbilt University
Past Experience
General Counsel and Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs | Broward College
Faculty | Harvard University (Summer School)
Corporate Litigator
How has education changed your life/your family?
Other than my loved ones, nothing has positively impacted my life more than my opportunity to pursue higher education. The ability to attend college was a gift of infinite returns to me and my family. All should have the opportunity to attain such a gift, and I am privileged to support such attainment.