Valerie Bowman Jarrett (born November 14, 1956) is a senior advisor and assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration. She is also a Chicago lawyer, businesswoman, and civic leader. Prior to that she served as a co-chairperson of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.
Personal
Jarrett was born to American parents James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman in Shiraz, Iran, where her father, a pathologist and geneticist, ran a hospital for children as part of a program where American doctors and agricultural experts sought to help jump-start developing countries' health and farming efforts. When she was five, the family moved to London for one year, returning to Chicago in 1963.
In 1966 her mother, Barbara Taylor Bowman, was one of four child advocates that created the Erikson Institute. The Institute was established to provide advanced knowledge in child development for teachers and other professionals working with young children.
As a child she spoke Persian and French.
Jarrett graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon, a New England boarding school, in 1974. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1978, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.
In 1983 Jarrett married Dr. William Robert Jarrett, son of famed Chicago Sun-Times reporter Vernon Jarrett. She attributes her switch from a private to a public career to their daughter Laura's birth and her own desire to do something that would make the daughter proud. Laura is a graduate of Amherst College and a Harvard Law School student.
To one reporter's e-mailed question about her divorce, she replied, "Married in 1983, separated in 1987, and divorced in 1988. Enough said." In a Vogue profile, she further explained "We grew up together. We were friends since childhood. In a sense, he was the boy next door. I married without really appreciating how hard divorce would be." William Jarrett died of a sudden heart attack in 1993.
Career
Chicago politics
Jarrett got her start in Chicago politics in 1987 working for Mayor Harold Washington as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development.
Jarrett continued to work in the mayor's office in the 1990s. She was Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard Daley, during which time (1991) she hired Michelle Robinson, then engaged to Barack Obama, away from a private law firm. Jarrett served as Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development from 1992 through 1995, and was Chair of the Chicago Transit Board from 1995 to 2005.
Business administration
Until joining the Obama Administration, Jarrett was the CEO of The Habitat Company, a real estate development and management company which she joined in 1995. She has been replaced by Mark Segal, a lawyer who joined the company in 2002, as CEO. Daniel E. Levin is the Chairman of Habitat, which was formed in 1971. Jarrett was a member of the board of Chicago Stock Exchange (2000–2007, as Chairman, 2004–2007).
She is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago Medical Center, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago and a Trustee of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Jarrett serves on the board of directors of USG Corporation, a Chicago based building materials corporation.
Jarrett's previous year's income, in a 2009 report, was a $300,000 salary and $550,000 in deferred compensation from The Habitat Executive Services, Inc. The Wall Street Journal also reported she disclosed payments of more than $346,000 for service on boards of directors that reflect her political ties, and work in Chicago real estate and community development. She was paid $76,000 for service as a director of Navigant Consulting, Inc. a Chicago-based global consulting group with governmental clients. She received $146,600 from USG, and $58,000 to serve on the board of Rreef American REIT II, a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco. The Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., paid her $34,444.
Advisor to Barack Obama
Jarrett is one of President Obama's longest serving advisors and confidantes and was "widely tipped for a high-profile position in an Obama administration."
On November 14, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama selected Jarrett to serve as White House Senior Advisor and for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Jarrett is one of three Senior Advisors to President Obama. She is Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, managing the White House Office of Public Engagement (formerly the Office of Public Liaison), Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Urban Affairs, and Chairs the White House Commission on Women and Girls, and White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport.
Relationship with President Obama
In 1991 Ms. Jarrett, as Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Richard Daley, interviewed Michelle Robinson for an opening in the mayor’s office, and offered her the job immediately. Ms. Robinson asked for time to think and also asked Jarrett to meet her fiancé, Barack Obama. The three ended up meeting for dinner. After the dinner, Michelle took the job with the mayor's office, and Valerie Jarrett reportedly took the couple under her wing, “introduc them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own,” and taking Michelle with her when she left the mayor’s office to head Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development.
Thus began a relationship that as of this writing has lasted 18 years. “Well, Valerie is one of my oldest friends,” Obama is quoted as saying. “Over time I think our relationship evolved to the point where she’s like a sibling to me… I trust her completely.” “She’s family,” he has said, “she combines the closeness of a family member with the savvy and objectivity of a professional businesswoman and public policy expert” and he “absolutely” runs every decision by her.
For her part Ms. Jarrett thinks that President Obama is “really by far smarter than anybody I know.” “Not just smart intelligent," she says, "but he’s perceptive.” “We have kind of a mind meld,” she claims, “And chances are, what he wants to do is what I’d want to do,” and “We always go through the day’s stories together and talk about what touched either of us.” Reportedly, when at the White House, Jarrett calls him “Mr. President” in the West Wing and “Barack” in the East Wing. Others have observed their professional closeness. “’If there’s a consigliere in the White House, it’s Valerie,’ said Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.” According to White House Communications Director, Anita Dunn, Ms. Jarrett is “one of the four or five people in the room with him when decisions get made.”
References
- ^ Terry, Don (July 27, 2008). "Insider has Obama's ear: What's she telling him?". Chicago Tribune . http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-072708-jarrett,0,1640738.story . Retrieved 2008-08-23 .
- ^ King, John (November 9, 2008). "Obama wants Valerie Jarrett to replace him in Senate". CNNPolitics.com . http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/09/source-obama-wants-valerie-jarrett-to-replace-him-in-senate/ .
- ^ a b Kantor, Jodi (November 23, 2008). "An Old Hometown Mentor, Still at Obama’s Side". New York Times . http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/us/politics/24jarrett.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp . Retrieved November 24, 2008 .
- ^ a b c d Barack's Rock, Jonathan Van Meter, Vogue , October 2008; accessed December 15, 2008.
- ^ Cottle, Michelle (August 27, 2008). "The Woman to See: Meet Valerie Jarr
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