Keynote Speaker

Derek Douglas

DEREK R.B. DOUGLAS, '90
Special Assistant to the President of the United States for Urban Affairs

Derek Douglas serves on the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama, where he leads the DPC’s work on urban and metropolitan policy issues. Prior to working in the White House, Douglas served as Washington Counsel to New York Governor David A. Paterson and Director of Governor Paterson’s Washington, D.C. Office. In this capacity, Douglas served as the Governor’s chief architect for federal policy and oversaw federal policy development and advocacy on domestic, economic, and urban policy issues for the State of New York. Prior to his appointment in 2007, Douglas served as Associate Director of Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP) where he founded and served as Director of the Economic Mobility Program. Prior to joining CAP, Douglas was a Counsel at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and an Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Douglas graduated from the University of Michigan with Highest Honors in Economics and from the Yale Law School.

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