Valerie Jarrett

Valerie Jarrett

Valerie B. Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls and oversees the White House Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. Ms. Jarrett has worked throughout her tenure at the White House to mobilize elected officials, business and community leaders, and diverse groups of advocates behind efforts to strengthen and improve access to the middle class, to boost American businesses and our economy, and to champion equality and opportunity for all Americans. From ongoing campaigns to end sexual assault, raise the minimum wage, advance workplace policies that empower working families, and promote entrepreneurship, and funding quality early childhood education, Ms. Jarrett has helped the President develop a broad coalition of partners to execute a robust agenda. Prior to joining the White House senior staff, Ms. Jarrett served as Co-Chair of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. Her background includes leadership positions 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. Also, Ms. Jarrett served as the director of corporate and not for profit boards, including 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, and Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Jarrett received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.