Jeri Powell is an attorney, professor and civic leader focused on helping women attain elected office and other positions of influence in politics and public policy. She is the founder of the nonprofit Take Office, an accelerator program for accomplished women interested in public policy and politics. She created the Pathways to Politics: Women Taking the Lead program in partnership with Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) Picker Center for Executive Education in January 2020. In addition to serving for nearly a decade in senior positions in government, political campaigns and nonprofit advocacy, she spent several years practicing international corporate law in Paris and New York. Jeri is an active community leader, and currently serves on the boards of Democracy Prep Public Schools, the Single Parent Resource Center, and the New York Junior League, where she currently serves as President and was recognized as an Outstanding Volunteer in 2022. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University SIPA, and was awarded SIPA's Outstanding Teaching Award for 2022 for her course, "Race, Gender and Political Change".
Jeri holds a JD from Columbia Law School, where she earned a Parker School Certificate in international law, and her AB in economics and French from Duke University.
