Carla Harris

CARLA HARRIS is a vice chairman, wealth management, managing director and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley.  She is responsible for increasing client connectivity and penetration to enhance revenue generation across the firm. In August 2013, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the National Women’s Business Council. For more than a decade, Harris was a senior member of the equity syndicate desk and executed such transactions as initial public offerings for UPS, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Ariba, Redback, the General Motors sub-IPO of Delphi Automotive, and the $3.2 Billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corporation.

Harris has received countless honors throughout her career from Fortune, U. S. Bankers, Black Enterprise, Essence and Ebony. She has been named to the New Jersey Hall of Fame and has received the Bert King award from the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association, the 2005 Women’s Professional Achievement award from Harvard University, the Pierre Toussaint Medallion from the Office of Black Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York, the Women of Power award given by the National Urban League, the Women of Influence Award from The Links, Incorporated and many other awards. Harris is the immediate past chair of the board of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and currently sits on many other boards, supporting her community.

In her other life, Harris is a singer, and has released three albums, including “Unceasing Praise,” “Joy Is Waiting” and “Carla’s First Christmas”, was a bestseller on Amazon.com in New York and in record stores, and was featured on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather in his “American Dream” segment.  She has performed five sold out concerts at Carnegie Hall. Harris is also the author of “Strategize to Win” and “Expect to Win.” Harris earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, second year honors, and an AB in economics from Harvard University, magna cum laude.  She has also received Honorary Doctorates of Laws, Humanities and Business from Marymount Manhattan College, Bloomfield College, Jacksonville University, Simmons College, the College of New Rochelle, St. Thomas Aquinas College and Fisk University respectively.