Christopher Edley, Jr.

Christopher Edley, Jr. is the president and, with Ann O’Leary, co-founder of the Opportunity Institute. He co-chaired the congressionally chartered National Commission on Education Equity and Excellence (2011-13), appointed by Secretary Arne Duncan. Dr. Edley was Dean of UC Berkeley Law School (2004-13) and continues there as the Honorable William H. Orrick, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Law. He teaches Administrative Law and Education Law. Before Berkeley, he was a professor at Harvard Law School for 23 years, where Professor Gary Orfield and he co-founded the Harvard Civil Rights Project. Chris served in White House policy and budget positions under presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. He also held senior positions in five presidential campaigns: policy director for Michael Dukakis (1988); and then senior policy adviser for Al Gore (2000), Howard Dean (2004), Barack Obama (2008), and Hillary Clinton (2016).