Ariel’s Hobson Says the Economic Recovery Will Advance Despite Inflation

(Bloomberg) -- The economic recovery is likely to advance even as inflation remains a challenge, according to Ariel Investments Co-Chief Executive Officer Mellody Hobson. 

“I’m actually optimistic about the U.S. economy and globally,” Hobson, 52, said in an interview for “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations.” “The recovery has been stronger than people have expected, and I think that will continue.”

Rising prices are the big issue facing the economy, and it’s clear that inflation isn’t transitory, she said.

“We think a diverse boardroom is essential to the well-being of a company and its stewardship,” Hobson said. “We advocate in a very strong way in terms of the companies that we own -- the small and mid-cap U.S. names -- for there to be diversity in those boardrooms.”

Hobson said the issue is key to her work and that Ariel Investments, since its founding in 1983, has persuaded about 50 companies in which it has acquired stakes to diversify their boards. 

(Hobson is on the board of Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable foundation of Michael R. Bloomberg, majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.)

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