Rick Wartzman

Rick Wartzman is the co-president of Bendable Labs, a technology, consulting and research firm that aims to improve economic stability, mobility and opportunity for people across the United States. Before co-founding Bendable Labs in 2023, Rick spent 15 years at the Drucker Institute, where he was the founding executive director. He is the author of five books, including 2022’s Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism, which looks at the state of low-paid work in America through the lens of the nation’s largest employer. His 2017 book, The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America, traces major changes over the past five decades to the social contract between employer and employee. He advised California State Controller Betty Yee on job-quality metrics and has spoken about workforce-related topics at the Aspen Institute, Brookings Institution, Harvard University's Trade Union Program, the California Future of Work Commission and other venues. Rick serves on the boards of the progressive publication Capital & Main and the employee benefit corporation California Harvesters.