Barbara McQuade is a Professor from Practice at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, and national security. She is also a legal analyst for MS NOW. She is a co-host of the podcast #SistersInLaw and the author of two New York Times bestsellers, The Fix: Saving America from the Sabotage of a Mob-Style Government, and Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.

From 2010 to 2017, Ms. McQuade served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Ms. McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama and was the first woman to serve in her position. During her career, Ms. McQuade has also served as an assistant U.S. attorney, an attorney in private practice, a law clerk to a federal district court judge, and a sportswriter. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan (LSA ’87 and Law ’91). She and her husband have four children and live in Ann Arbor.

Ms. McQuade has been recognized by the Detroit News with its Michiganian of the Year Award, the Detroit Free Press with its Neal Shine Award for Exceptional Leadership, and Crain’s Detroit Business as one of Detroit’s Most Powerful Women.

Lori Lightfoot served as the 56th mayor of Chicago, making history as the city’s first African American female mayor and first member of the LGBTQ+ community to ever serve as mayor of the city. 

During her term as mayor, which ended May 15, 2023, Lightfoot led a coordinated, citywide response across government, business, and community organizations to safeguard public health and minimize economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Lightfoot Administration’s pandemic response also included the most equitable testing and vaccine distribution system in the country.  Among other steps, she created a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team, a collaboration between government and community leaders, to address the adverse impacts of COVID -19 on residents of color.  Lightfoot also convened the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force which produced the first in the nation economic and social/emotional recovery plan for Chicagoland, and Chicago became the first big city to safely open following the height of the pandemic.

Lightfoot also championed generating inclusive economic growth across the city’s neighborhoods and specifically those that had historically suffered from decades of disinvestment.  Through her signature economic development plan, Invest South/West, the Lightfoot Administration partnered with the private sector and philanthropy to invest approximately $3 billion dollars into Black and brown neighborhoods on the city’s south and west sides. Lightfoot’s administration also led many wealth building initiatives for Chicago residents which freed them from tens of millions of dollars in city debt.  In August of 2021, Lightfoot secured a $15 minimum wage for most workers in Chicago, including domestic workers, years ahead of the state’s planned phase-in of a living wage.

Her accomplishments also include landmark ethics and good governance reforms, worker protection legislation, and historic investments in youth, education, public safety, and the environment.

Lightfoot is a lawyer by training and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School.  She practiced law for many years at Mayer Brown LLP in the litigation and conflict resolution group.  Lightfoot also served as an Assistant United States Attorney here in the Northern District of Illinois.  Lightfoot is also a proud undergraduate alumnae of the University of Michigan from which she graduated with honors.

Before taking office as mayor, Lightfoot also held several other leadership roles in city government both as an employee and an appointee, including a number of roles addressing police reform and accountability, emergency management and procurement.

More recently, Lightfoot taught a graduate level leadership class at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow.  She is a contributor to the Harvard Public Health Magazine.  Lightfoot was also recently a Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

More recently, Lightfoot taught a graduate level strategic consulting class at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy. In the fall of 2023, Lightfoot also taught leadership class at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow. She is a contributor to the Harvard Public Health Magazine. Lightfoot was also recently a Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.