Jeri Powell is an attorney, advocate, consultant and strategist, focused on supporting women new to politics on their path to seeking elective office and other positions of influence in politics and public policy. In addition to founding Take Office, she currently holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she is teaching the seminar “Race, Gender and Political Change” in Spring 2021. She created the Pathways to Politics: Women Taking the Lead program in partnership with SIPA’s 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. 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.

Ester R. Fuchs is Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science and is the Director of the Urban and Social Policy Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She served as Special Advisor to the Mayor for Governance and Strategic Planning under New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from 2001 to 2005. Previously, Professor Fuchs served as chair of the Urban Studies Program at Barnard College and Columbia College and founding director of the Columbia University Center for Urban Research and Policy. Professor Fuchs serves on the faculty of the Earth Institute, executive committee of Columbia’s Data Science Institute and its Smart Cities Center, the board of American University’s Metropolitan Policy Center, Senior Fellow of the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto, and an Associate at the University of Technology Sydney Institute for Sustainable Futures. Fuchs is also a member of the Faculty Steering Committee of the Eric Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights and Provost’s Just Societies Task Force at Columbia.

Kimberly Peeler-Allen has worked at the intersection of race, gender and politics for nearly 20 years. She is the co-founder of Higher Heights for America (HHFA), a national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office. Prior to stepping down from this role, her work helped build the organization into a network of over 90,000 members, donors and activists across the country who helped elect 10 Black women to Congress, 1 Black woman to the US Senate and a growing number of Black women to statewide and large-city executive offices. Peeler-Allen currently serves as co-chair of the HHFA Political Action Committee, which engages Black women in supporting the organization’s endorsed candidates. As principal of Peeler-Allen Consulting, LLC from 2003 to 2014, she led the only African American-owned full-time fundraising consultancy in New York state. She served as finance director for Letitia James’ successful bid to become New York City public advocate and co-executive director of James’ New York attorney general transition committee. Peeler-Allen is a board member of ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equity.

Bill Hyers has been a partner in the WIN New York Office since 2014. Prior to that he served as Campaign Manager for Bill de Blasio’s successful New York City mayoral campaign and was named “Campaign Manager of the Year” by the American Association of Political Consultants. On de Blasio’s campaign, Hyers guided an effort that New York’s papers dubbed “masterful” and “shrewd.” Hyers and team had the discipline to stick to a well-conceived plan and eventually earned over 40 percent of the vote in the primary and a landslide victory in the general election. In 2012, Hyers served as State Director for President Barack Obama’s campaign in Pennsylvania, where he managed a staff of 400 and a budget of $32 million dollars. Previously, in 2008, he was Midwest Director for Obama’s ground-breaking campaign. Hyers is a 2001 graduate of St. Cloud State University. Before entering politics, he served in the U.S. Army, working as a military police soldier in Korea, Colorado Springs and Bosnia during Operation Joint Endeavor.

Tremaine S. Wright is an attorney, entrepreneur, small business owner and activist who is a second-generation Bedford Stuyvesant resident invested in preserving the rich legacy of her community and building a strong foundation for the future. She was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2016, and served the 56th Assembly District of Brooklyn, representing the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Northern Crown Heights neighborhoods. She was Chair of New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus and Chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on Foster Care. She is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School, and has practiced law at Brooklyn Legal Services and private law firms. While working as an attorney, Tremaine served as a pro bono lawyer for the Volunteers of Legal Services’ Incarcerated Mothers Project. Through this project, Tremaine advised mothers on their parental rights to protect their families. As a volunteer with the City Bar Association’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, Tremaine assisted small business owners and organized the Tompkins Avenue Merchants Association.