From 1979 until 1992 she was an officer of the General Motors Corporation, first as vice president and chief economist, and later as vice president and group executive for public affairs, which included the Economics, Environmental Activities, Industry-Government Relations and Public Relations staffs. She also serves or has served as a director of several leading multinational corporations and research and policy institutions, including the Institute for Advanced Study and Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Prior to her appointment at GM, Whitman was a member of the faculty in the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh, beginning as an instructor in 1962 and becoming Distinguished Public Service Professor of Economics in 1973. She served as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers in 1972–73, while on leave from the University. She was a director at the Council on Foreign Relations between 1977 and 1987. She is also a former member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.
Whitman received a B.A. in government from Radcliffe College (now Harvard University), graduating at the top of her class, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Columbia University. The author of many books, monographs and articles, she is the recipient of numerous fellowships, honors and awards, and holds honorary degrees from over twenty colleges and universities.
Her father was the mathematician and polymath John von Neumann, one of the foremost mathematicians and scholars of the 20th century. She is married to Robert Freeman Whitman, professor emeritus of English at the University of Pittsburgh, and has two children and two grandchildren. Her step-brother is George H. Kuper , former president and chief executive officer of the Council of Great Lake Industries and an independent consultant in the areas of public policy, environmental and energy issues. Her son, Dr. Malcolm Whitman, is professor of developmental biology at Harvard University. Her daughter, Dr. L. Whitman, is a specialist in internal medicine and out-patient medical education at Yale University. Dr. L Whitman is married to David L. Downie, a scholar of international environmental policy, who is the son of Leonard Downie, Jr., the journalist and long-time editor of the Washington Post.
Book launch the martian s daughter a memoir by marina von neumann whitman
Education
Ph.D. Columbia University, 1962 – Economics
M.A. Columbia University, 1959 – Economics
B.A. Radcliffe College, 1956 (summa cum laude) – Government
Honorary degrees
Doctor of Humane Letters, Eastern Michigan University, 1992
Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame, 1984
Doctor of Laws, Claremont University Center & Graduate School, 1984
Doctor of Laws, Denison University, 1983
Doctor of Laws, Lehigh University, 1981
Doctor of Laws, Mount Holyoke College, 1980
Doctor of Letters, Williams College, 1980
Doctor of Humane Letters, Baruch College, 1980
Doctor of Laws, Ripon College, 1980
Doctor of Laws, Amherst College, 1978
Doctor of Laws, Rockford College, 1978
Doctor of Laws, Allegheny College, 1977
Doctor of Laws, Wilson College, 1977
Doctor of Laws, Rollins College, 1976
Doctor of Laws, Marietta College, 1976
Doctor of Laws, New York Polytechnic Institute, 1975
Doctor of Laws, Coe College, 1975
Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Massachusetts, 1975
Doctor of Laws, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 1973
Doctor of Laws, Cedar Crest College, 1973
Doctor of Humane Letters, Russell Sage College, 1972
Member, Technology Assessment Advisory Council of the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, 1990–1995
President's Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, 1987–1993
President's Export Council, 1986–87
Commission on Security and Economic Assistance, 1983–1984 President's Commission on Executive Exchange, 1981–1984
President's Commission for a National Agenda for the Eighties,1979–1980
Economic Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1979–1980
Advisory Committee on the International Monetary System to the U.S. Treasury Department, 1977–1985
Academic Consultants meetings, Federal Reserve Board, February 1977
Advisory Committee on Technology and World Trade, 1976–1978 (Office of Technology Assessment)
Seminars on Global Trade Objectives in an Interdependent World, for U.S. Information Agency – India, February 17–29, 1976
Advisory Committee on the Balance of Payments Statistics Presentation, 1975–1976 (Office of Management and Budget)
The President's Advisory Group on Contributions of Technology to Economic Strength, 1975–1976
The President's Economic Summit Meetings, 1974
Quarterly Economic Meetings, Council of Economic Advisers, 1973–1975
Member, Council of Economic Advisers, Executive Office of the President, March 1972 – August 1973
Member, National Price Commission, October 1971 – February 1972
Staff Economist, Economic Study of the Pittsburgh Region (Pittsburgh Regional Planning Association and Center for Regional Economic Studies), 1962
Selected publications
Books
The Martian's Daughter. A Memoir, The University of Michigan Press, 2012.
New World, New Rules: The Changing Role of the American Corporation, Harvard Business School Press, 1999
Reflections of Interdependence: Issues for Economic Theory and U.S. Policy, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1979.
Government Risk-Sharing in Foreign Investment, Princeton University Press, 1965
Monographs
The Responsibility Paradox: Multinational Firms and Global Corporate Social Responsibility, with Gerald David and Mayer Zaid, Ross School of Business Working Paper Series, Working Paper 1031, April 2006 [1]
Do Exchange Rates Matter: A Global Survey (Project Chair; major authors: Gail Fosler and Eliza Winger), The Conference Board, New York, 2004
American Capitalism and Global Convergence, Group of Thirty, Washington, D.C., 2003
The Evolving Corporation: Global Imperatives and National Responses (editor), Group of Thirty, Washington., D.C., 2000
International Trade and Investment: Two Perspectives: Essays in International Finance #143, Princeton University Press, July 1981
Economic Goals and Policy Instruments: Policies for Internal and External Balance, Princeton, Special Papers in International Economics #9, 1970
Scholarly and policy articles
Gerald F. Davis, Marina von Neumann Whitman and Mayer N. Zald, "Political Agency and the Responsibility Paradox: Multinationals and Corporate Social Responsibility” In Contemporary Political Agency, Bice Maiguashca and Raffaele Marchetti, eds., London: Routledge, 2013.
Gerald F. Davis, Marina V.N. Whitman, and Mayer N. Zald, 2008. “The responsibility paradox.” Stanford Social Innovation Review 6(1): 30-37 (2008).[2]
“The Open Economy Macromodel: Interactions Between Theoretical Developments and Real-World Behavior,” in Arie Arnon and Warren Young (eds.), The Open Economy Macromodel: Past, Present and Future, Boston, Dordrecht and London, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.
“Global Competition and the Changing Role of the American Corporation,” The Washington Quarterly, March 1999.
“Domestic Policy Requirements for a Liberal Trade Regime,” in Géza Feketekuty (ed.), Trade Strategies for a New Era: Ensuring U.S. Leadership in a Global Economy, New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1998
“Trade and Growth: Restoring the Virtuous Circle” in Jerry Jasinowski (ed.), The Rising Tide: A Path Towards Higher Growth and Economic Prosperity, Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998
“Labor Market Adjustment and Trade: Their Interaction in the Triad,” in Benjamin Cohen (ed.), International Trade and Finance: New Frontiers for Research, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
“The Socially Responsible Corporation: Responsible to Whom and for What?” in John W. Houck and Oliver F. Williams (eds.), Is the Good Corporation Dead? Social Responsibility in a Global Economy, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996
“Using Board Guidelines as a Strategic Tool,” The Corporate Board, September/October 1995 *“Flexible Markets, Flexible Firms,” The American Enterprise, Vol. 5, No. 3, May–June 1994, pp. 26–37
“The State of Business: Global Competitiveness and Economic Nationalism,” Harvard International Review, Vol.XV, No. 4, Summer 1993
“Assessing Greater Variability of Exchange Rates: A Private Sector Perspective,” in American Economic Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, May 1984
“Persistent Unemployment: Economic Policy Perspectives,” in Unemployment & Growth in the Western Economies, Vol. 2, Project on European Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, 1984
“Global Monetarism and the Monetary Approach to the Balance of Payments,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 3:1975
“The Payments Adjustment Process and the Exchange-Rate Regime: What Have We Learned?” in American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1975
“The Current and Future Role of the Dollar: How Much Symmetry?” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 3:1974
(with N.C. Miller) “Alternative Theories and Tests of U.S. Short-Term Foreign Investment,” Journal of Finance, December 1973
(with N.C. Miller) “A Mean-Variance Analysis of the United States Long-Term Portfolio Foreign Investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 84 (May 1970)
Fellowships and awards
New York Association of Business Economists, William F. Butler Memorial Award, 1988
Columbia University, Award for Excellence, 1984
Women’s Equity Action League Achievement Award, 1979
Jane Addams Medal, Rockford College, 1976
Catalyst Award honoring outstanding women in the corporate world, 1976
George Washington Award of the American Hungarian Foundation, 1975
Columbia University Medal for Excellence, 1973
Social Science Research Council Faculty Research Fellowship awarded for 1970–71 (postponed in order to accept Council of Economic Advisers appointment)
National Science Foundation research grant (held jointly with Professor N. C. Miller of Carnegie-Mellon University) for research on "Long-Term Portfolio Investment in the U.S. Balance of Payments," 1968–70
Research Grant from International Dimensions Program of the Academic Disciplines at the University of Pittsburgh, 1965–66 and 1966–67
NSF Cooperative Graduate Fellowship (awarded but not accepted)
AAUW Michigan Fellowship
Earhart Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Friedman Fellowship (Columbia)
Jonathan Fay Prize (Radcliffe)
Phi Beta Kappa Prize for highest ranking senior (Radcliffe)
Senior Adviser, Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, 1976–1987
Board of Directors, Atlantic Council, 1975–1983
Board of Directors, American Finance Association, 1979–198l
Board of Directors, The Council on Foreign Relations, 1977–1987
Executive Committee, American Economic Association, 1977–1980
Adjunct Scholar and *Member, Academic Advisory Board, American Enterprise Institute, 1976–1979 *National Planning Association, Committee on the Changing International Realities and Their Implications for U. S. Policy, 1975–1981
Editorial Board, Foreign Policy, 1974–1979
Board of Overseers, Harvard University, 1972–1978
Member, Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, 1974–1975
Board of Editors, American Economic Review, 1974–1977
Commission on Critical Choices for Americans, 1974–1976
Selection Committee, Rockefeller Public Service Awards, 1976–1980
Member, Advisory Council, Department of Economics, Princeton University, 1973–1980, Chairman, 1976–1977
Chair, Committee to Visit Department of Economics, 1975–78 *Chair, Committee to Visit Department of Statistics, 1972–75
Moderator of TV Series on 200+ PBS Stations: Economically Speaking, 1978 and 1979
