Event Contact
Scott Allen
Speaker Information
Valerie Jarrett, Chief Executive Officer, The Barack Obama Foundation
The Honorable Valerie Jarrett is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of the Barack Obama Foundation. She is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow at The University of Chicago Law School. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward.
She serves as Board Chairman of Civic Nation and serves on the boards of Walgreens Boot Alliance, Inc., Ralph Lauren Corporation, Sweetgreen, Inc., Ariel Investments, The University of Chicago, Sesame Street Workshop, and The Economic Club of Chicago. Jarrett also serves on the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Advisory Board, the Bank of America Enterprise Executive Development Council, and the Microsoft Advisory Council.
Ms. Jarrett was the Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama from 2009-2017 making her the longest-serving senior advisor in history. 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, and affordable childcare, and 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 previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company in Chicago, the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the city of Chicago, Deputy Chief of Staff for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and practiced law for ten years in the private and public sector. She also served as the director of numerous corporate and not-for-profit boards including leadership positions as Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees, Vice Chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Chair of Chicago Transit Board.
Ms. Jarrett has also received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” Award. Jarrett received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.
Michael Isikoff AB '74, Investigative Journalist
Michael Isikoff is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author who has worked as an investigative reporter for The Washington Post, Newsweek, NBC News and Yahoo News. He is the author of four New York Times best-selling books: “Find Me the Votes: A Hard-Charging Georgia Prosecutor, a Rogue President and the Plot to Steal an American Election” (with Daniel Klaidman); “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump” (with David Corn); “Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War” (also with David Corn) and “Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story,” which chronicled his own reporting of the Monica Lewinsky story.
In 2015, Isikoff wrote and produced “Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays,” a widely acclaimed documentary about the FBI’s “sex deviates” program— a film that was screened at the National Archives and won an Edward R. Murrow award. He was the lead reporter on a Newsweek team that won the National Magazine Award for coverage of the events that lead to Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
In 2009, Isikoff was named on a list of the 50 “Best and Most Influential Journalists” in the nation’s capital by Washingtonian magazine. Isikoff graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in 1974 and received a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
