Valerie B. Jarrett is a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, and a senior advisor to the Obama Foundation and Attn. She serves as Board Chair of When We All Vote and Co-Chair of The United State of Women. She also serves on the boards of Lyft, Ariel Investments, 2U, the Innocence Project, Time’s Up, the Economic Club of Chicago and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, Finding My Voice, was published in 2019 and updated in paperback in 2020.

 

Ms. Jarrett was the longest serving Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. Ms. Jarrett worked throughout her tenure at the White House to mobilize elected officials, business and community leaders, and diverse groups of advocates. She led the Obama Administration’s efforts to expand and strengthen access to the middle class, and boost American businesses and our economy. She championed the creation of equality and opportunity for all Americans, and economically and politically empowering women in the United States and around the world. She oversaw the Administration’s advocacy for workplace policies that empower working families, including equal pay, raising the minimum wage, paid leave, paid sick days, workplace flexibility, affordable childcare, and a culture free from sexual harassment. She led the campaigns to reform our criminal justice system, end sexual assault, and reduce gun violence.

 

Ms. Jarrett has a background in both the public and private sectors. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company in Chicago, Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board, Commissioner of Planning and Development, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. She also served as the director of numerous corporate and not-for-profit boards including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees, and Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Jarrett practiced law for ten years in both the private and public sectors, and has also received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” as well as the Abner J. Mikva Legal Legends Award.

 

Jarrett received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.

 

 

UHAB is a nonprofit that creates, preserves and supports resident-controlled affordable housing opportunities. UHAB works with low- to moderate-income residents in housing cooperatives and tenant associations to build leadership, democratic participation, and community through cooperation.

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board was born in the midst of New York City’s economic crisis of the 1970s.With landlords abandoning their buildings en masse, the city found itself with more than 11,000 buildings on hand and no idea what to do with them. UHAB became a voice for the residents living in those buildings – longtime New Yorkers who had no intention of leaving.

UHAB's belief is that residents must be engaged as active participants and decision-makers in shaping and building their neighborhoods. UHAB utilizes cooperative ownership as a model for democratic participation and limited-equity as a tool for preserving long-term affordability, helping to create and preserve over 30,000 affordable co-op units across the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

UHAB's programs address a cycle of affordable housing needs: from building resident power and organizing tenants as community leaders to preserving existing affordable co-ops through training, education workshops, technical assistance, regulatory compliance, and providing co-op share-loans.

Errol Louis is the Political Anchor of NY1 News, where he hosts "Inside City Hall," a nightly prime-time show about New York City politics, featuring interviews with top political and cultural leaders, including an exclusive weekly one-on-one conversation with Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Louis has moderated more than two dozen debates between candidates for mayor, public advocate, city and state comptroller, state Attorney General, congress and U.S. Senate.

In 2016 he was a questioner in the final CNN presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. In 2019 he launched a popular weekly podcast, “You Decide with Errol Louis,” that features longer discussions with political and cultural figures.

Louis is a longtime CNN Contributor, providing on-air commentary on key events including presidential primaries and Election Night. He writes regularly for CNN.com, as well as a weekly column for the New York Daily News.

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