Leslie Cornfeld

Ms. Cornfeld has devoted her career to advancing equity and opportunity for our nation’s underserved communities — through their schools, justice systems and unconventional partners. A former federal civil rights prosecutor, senior Obama administration official, advising two U.S. Secretaries of Education and the White House for the President’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, and a two-term advisor for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she currently leads the National Education Equity Lab, a nonprofit that she founded to drive opportunity at scale through innovation, collaboration and action. She taught at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and started her career as an aide to former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in Washington DC.Ms. Cornfeld has a strong track record of designing and leading cross-sector efforts to tackle pressing social and community challenges. As a federal civil rights prosecutor, Ms. Cornfeld led complex public corruption, police abuse, and human trafficking cases and twice received the U.S. Attorney General’s Director’s Award for outstanding performance. A proud graduate of Broward County public schools, Ms. Cornfeld graduated from Harvard College, Phi Beta Kappa, and Harvard Law School. She attributes her career path to her high school English teacher who remains the most inspiring teacher she ever had. She has two children and lives in New York City.