Valerie B. Jarrett was a senior adviser to President Obama, overseeing the White House Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chairing the White House Council on Women and Girls. She came to the White House with a background in both the public and private sectors, having served as the chief executive officer of the Habitat Company in Chicago, chair of the Chicago Transit Board, the city's commissioner of planning and development, and deputy chief of staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Jarrett also served as chair of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange and the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees and as director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She received her B.A. from Stanford University and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
