Advisory Council

Dr. Eileen Appelbaum is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.  Prior to joining CEPR, she was Distinguished Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, where she also directed the Center for Women and Work. She spent five summers as a Research Fellow at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. Her acclaimed book, Private Equity at Work: When Wall Street Manages Main Street, coauthored with Rosemary Batt, was published in 2014. Over the last decade, she has published numerous articles and working papers on the financialization of health care.  She is a past President of the National Labor and Employment Relations Association. Dr. Appelbaum holds a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Brendan Ballou is a former federal prosecutor and served as Special Counsel for Private Equity in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  For two years, he prosecuted rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.  He began his career at the Justice Department in its National Security Division, where he advised the White House on counterterrorism and other polices. He is the author of the book Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Politico, the Atlantic, and the Nation.

Rosemary Batt is the Alice Hanson Cook Professor of Women and Work at the ILR School, Cornell University. Her research examines the political economy of labor – with an emphasis on the impact of financialization and private equity buyouts on Main Street companies, workers, and communities – especially in low wage service industries and healthcare. Batt received her BA from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from the Sloan School of Management, MIT. She has published over 100 books, book chapters, and articles on management and employment relations issues. She is co-author with Eileen Appelbaum of Private Equity at Work (2014) and Healthcare in the Age of Finance Capital (Princeton, Forthcoming).

Laura Campos currently serves as the Senior Director of the Economic Justice team at the Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF), leading a multimillion-dollar portfolio focused on advancing economic security, expanding access to capital, and confronting monopoly power. She also oversees NCF’s use of active ownership strategies to address corporations’ impacts on racial, economic, and environmental justice and received the Joan Bavaria Award in 2019 for her work to transform the capital markets to better balance economic prosperity with social and environmental objectives. Her work has been covered by numerous publications, and her writing on shareholder activism has appeared in The New York Times, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and The International Business Times, among others.

Jeff Hooke was a Senior Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School from 2016 to 2024, and he continues to teach courses on a part-time basis. Earlier, for many years,  he was an investment banker and private investment executive at major firms. He is the author of five finance books, including his most recent title, The Myth of Private Equity. He has authored or co-authored multiple peer-reviewed academic papers on both (i) private equity; and (ii) institutional investment performance, including two seminal studies that indicated that state pension plans and major non-profit foundations underperform a simple 60-40 index, with little difference in Sharp ratios. With two colleagues, he is studying private credit performance for a new study. He holds an MBA and BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Yashaswini Singh, PhD, MPA is a health care economist and Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at Brown University. Dr. Singh is a nationally recognized expert on financialization in health care delivery systems and the downstream effects on health care spending, access, quality, and the clinical workforce. Her research has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, featured in national media outlets, and influenced health policy at the state and national levels. Dr. Singh has received many honors and awards for her work on private equity investments in health care from the American Society of Health Economists, International Health Economics Association, and AcademyHealth. Dr. Singh holds a PhD in health economics and policy from Johns Hopkins University, a graduate degree in international finance from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Bryn Mawr College.

Samir Sonti is on the faculty at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, where he teaches courses on labor and political economy. He is an editor of New Labor Forum and writes widely about economic policy in the past and present. Prior to his time at CUNY, Samir worked in the labor movement.

Michelle Sternthal, PhD, is the Director of Government Affairs at Community Catalyst, where she oversees Community Catalyst’s strategic engagement with Congress, the Executive Branch, and with national partners and coalitions focused on federal policy advocacy work. Previously, Dr. Sternthal served as Managing Director of Advocacy and Policy at Roosevelt Institute, where she led the think tank’s policy and advocacy outreach to Congress and allies. She also served as Policy Director for the Main Street Alliance, where she leveraged the voices of small businesses to preserve the ACA, and as Deputy Director of Federal Affairs for the March of Dimes.

Education 

• Juris Doctor, Glendale University College of Law, 1994;
• Business Administration, City University of New York, 1982
• Certificated, Investment Management Program, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,2004
• Certificated, Fiduciary College, Stanford University Law School;
• Certificated, Labor and Work life Program, Harvard University Law School.

Work and Related Experience:

• Attorney, Los Angeles County Public Defender, 1997-2024;
• California State Bar, Member, 1995-2024;
• Trustee, LACERA Board of Investments, 2004-2024;
• Chairman, LACERA Private Equity Committee, 2015-2024;
• Business Agent/Attorney, SEIU Local 660, 1985-1997;
• United States Marine Corps, 1970-1973.