Kevin Hassett applauds Democrat for calling out lack of diversity among bank executives

"It's a huge problem," Hassett said in an interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow on "CNN Newsroom."

During a House Financial Services Committee hearing Wednesday with the CEOs of seven major banks -- all white men -- Texas Rep. Al Green asked them to raise their hands if they believed their "likely successor will be a woman or a person of color."

None did. Green then asked if they believed their bank was "likely to have a female or person of color within the next decade," prompting five of the seven CEOs to raise their hands. Two -- JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon and Morgan Stanley's James Gorman -- declined.

In his CNN interview, Hassett added that he would welcome an African American woman as his successor at the Council of Economic Advisers, specifically naming Stanford's Caroline Hoxby.

"I think that is a problem in society that, you know, there is still something of a glass ceiling if you look at it. The female representation, the African American representation among CEOs is, you know, woefully low," Hassett said. "That's something that I think people need to think about. I think the congressman was right to raise that issue."

During Wednesday's hearing, the panel also asked Dimon a series of tough questions on income inequality, with Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat, asking him to respond to her claim that a single parent in a starting job at JPMorgan couldn't make ends meet on a minimum wage salary of around $16.

In response, Dimon said the bank provides good benefits, an answer Porter said showed the that the CEO didn't have a sufficient response to her question.

CNN's Anneken Tappe contributed to this report.

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