Jeri Powell is an attorney, advocate, consultant and strategist, focused on women in leadership. She is the founder of Take Office, a nonprofit organization which trains accomplished women interested in pursuing pathways to politics and public policy. She currently holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she teaches the seminars she created, “Race, Gender and Political Change” and “Women and Leadership: Policy Design for Gender Equity”. Her courses have been awarded SIPA’s “Top Five” honor, and she was awarded SIPA’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2022. In addition to serving for nearly a decade in senior positions in government and nonprofit advocacy, she spent several years practicing international corporate law in Paris and New York.

Jeri is the 2024-2026 President of the New York Junior League and has been a member of the organization for 13 years. She recently served on the Provisional Training committee as a Provisional Leader and on the Community Advisory Council and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work Groups. Her other previous roles include Director at Large on the Board of Directors, co-chair of the  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Communications Work Groups, Communications and Advocacy Council Head on the Management Council, and co-chair of the Winter Ball committee. In 2022, Jeri was presented with the NYJL’s Outstanding Volunteer award.

Outside of the NYJL, Jeri is an active community leader and currently serves on the boards of Democracy Prep Public Schools and NYJL community partner the Single Parent Resource Center, which honored her with the Volunteer Recognition Award in 2024.

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, where she was elected president of the student body.