President Donald Trump’s executive order to end the federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program has given people back their financial strength, Oj Oleka, CEO of the State Finance Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
Oreka said there was a “new sheriff in town” and Trump said his promise to eliminate Day by “empowering state finances and building trust with Americans” from the left to the back, “from the center.”
“We know that when businesses focus on their businesses, their businesses improve. We know that if businesses improve, shareholders make more money, employees get better quality in their business, and consumers get better products,” Oreca told Fox News Digital at the state financial officers foundation meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Oleka said that focusing on financial returns and merit-based incentives surrounding DEI or environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies has created exactly “more money for shareholders, better culture for employees, better products for consumers and customers.”
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FOX News Digital spoke to Oj Oleka, CEO of the State Finance Officer Foundation in Orlando, Florida (Getty/Fox Digital)
“The American people want every individual to succeed,” Oreka said. “They want people to succeed in their merit, their abilities, their skills. That’s very important to us as Americans. But what they don’t want is for people to gain preferences because of political ideology.”
He said there is a misconception about Day because people hear of diversity, equity and inclusion and think, ‘Well, they’re good. I support diversity. I want people to include, and people should have the resources they need.’
“To be very clear, when we’re talking about Dei, we say that Dei is trying to provide people with racial or gender preferences based on past complaints.
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According to Oreka, equal opportunities are creating your own opportunities to create your own opportunities and trying to succeed with skills, abilities and benefits.
Oreka explained that Day is subjective because he prefers “people based on your own politics and what you think is important.”
“From a corporate perspective, saying, ‘Let’s hire people based on gender and race’ is in contrast to skills and abilities,” Oreka said.
“That’s a bad thing, because it can harm the performance of what the company actually does at the business’s responsibility. It’s important for financial personnel because they invest in many of these companies. It’s their job to ensure that the pension they invest, the public funds they invest in thanks to their position, are actually done by the company.
Oj Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, spoke with Fox News Digital at the State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, Florida. (Fox News Digital)
“We cannot guarantee that returns will be as high as possible if companies are not focused on specific duties, responsibilities. Instead, they are trying to focus on politics and enforce ideology and social agendas through business. That’s not the purpose of business.”
Oreka said her experience as a PhD person. Higher education, the son of Nigerian immigrants, informs the rejection of political ideology or agendas in government-funded programs, including public education, as it does not improve public education or academic achievement.
“It’s not actually contributing to the children’s learning,” Oreka said. “It’s not contributing to human prosperity. There’s really no reason to spend people’s taxpayer dollars on it.”
President Donald Trump will speak at an event on energy production in the White House East Room on April 8, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Oreka said Fox News Digital is important to remind state finance officials around the country that the Orlando Conference is not alone in opposing DEI and ESG policies promoted by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“That goes back to what I think most Americans believe. Their state government is closer to them than the federal government,” he said. “As a result, state leaders should have more power because they are more relevant to their finances than the federal government, and what the state leaders should do with that power is to return it to the people.”
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Oreka said more Americans are being financially encouraged by empowering state finance officials to focus on financial revenue and fiduciary duties instead of ideology and politics.
“It’s important to have the same kind of leadership in the White House at the state level and do good with the promise to bring a golden age to America and states,” he said.
Andrew Mark Miller is a Fox News reporter. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email him with tips to Andrewmark.miller@fox.com.
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