Pritzker Fellows
Fall Quarter 2021
Each Quarter, the Pritzker Fellows program welcomes a cohort of domestic and international practitioners – elected officials, journalists, activists, policymakers, diplomats – to campus for deep dives into the most pressing issues of the day.
Catherine bertini
An accomplished leader in international organization reform and a powerful advocate for women and girls, Catherine Bertini has a distinguished career improving the efficiency and operations of organizations serving poor and hungry people globally and in the United States. She was appointed to senior positions by three UN secretaries general and five US presidents.Bertini’s career includes twenty-five years in the private sector; thirteen years as a university professor and in the United Nations, twenty years advising major foundations and think tanks, plus service in local, state and national governments.In 2003, she was named the World Food Prize Laureate for her transformational leadership at the World Food Programme (WFP), which she led for ten years,and for the positive impact she had on the lives of women. She dedicated the prize money to creating the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls Education, housed at WFP/USA. As a United Nations Under Secretary General, she initiated efforts to reform the global system for security of staff and for the recognition of all staff marriages. She led UN humanitarian missions to the Horn of Africa and to Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.Earlier, while in the US government, she expanded the electronic benefit transfer options for food stamp beneficiaries, created the food package for breastfeeding mothers, presented the first effort to picture healthy diets, and expanded education and training opportunities for poor women. In 2008, she co-chaired a successful effort to impact American policy to support poor farmers in the developing world, now called “Feed the Future.”She was recruited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help advise its gender programming near the start of its agricultural development initiative. She served on the jury of the Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize. Most recently, Bertini was a fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation where she published a paper, “Leading Change in United Nations Organizations.”She taught international relations courses to graduate students at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and had one semester appointments at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.Currently, she is a distinguished fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She is a fellow at the Scowcroft Institute at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and is affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Lugar Institute. She is a professor emeritus at Syracuse University. Bertini serves as chair of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and as a board member of the GlobalFood Banking Network. She is a member of the Leadership Council of Compact 2025 of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). She is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the International Union of Food Science and Technology and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.Bertini has been honored by twelve universities in four countries with honorary degrees and by the Republics of Italy and Ireland.
Ertharin Cousin
Ertharin Cousin a global agriculture, food security and nutrition solutions thought leader and sustainability advocate currently serves as a Richard von WeizsäckerFellow ofthe Robert Bosch Academy, a Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University, Center on Food Security and Environment and as the CEO and Founder of Food Systems for the Future, a nutrition impact investment fund. From 2012 until 2017, Cousin led the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). In 2009, Cousin was nominated and confirmed as the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the U.S. domestic fight to end hunger including service as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of America’s Second Harvest -now Feeding America.
Ertharin Cousin a global agriculture, food security and nutrition solutions thought leader and sustainability advocate currently serves as a Richard von WeizsäckerFellow ofthe Robert Bosch Academy, a Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University, Center on Food Security and Environment and as the CEO and Founder of Food Systems for the Future, a nutrition impact investment fund. From 2012 until 2017, Cousin led the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). In 2009, Cousin was nominated and confirmed as the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the U.S. domestic fight to end hunger including service as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of America’s Second Harvest -now Feeding America.
Tony Fabrizio
Tony Fabrizio is widely recognized as an expert in public opinion and politics and one of the nation’s leading pollsters. He has helped elect Presidents and Prime Ministers on four continents.In the U.S., Fabrizio served as the Chief Pollster on five Presidential campaigns, most notably President Donald Trump’s successful 2016 upset victory and his 2020 re-election campaign.Over the course of his 38 year career, he’s also helped elect dozens of U.S. Senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, scores of Congressmen, numerous Governors and other Statewide elected officials, as well as worked for dozens of issue groups and trade associations.In addition to his political clientele, Fabrizio has worked for a number of Fortune 500 companies including Visa, Bank of America, Google, Juul, Uber, Pfizer, Hewlett-Packard, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Dow Chemical, UPS, Altria and PepsiCo to name just a few.In 2017, Fabrizio’s peers at the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC)awarded him with the “Pollster of the Year” award for his work on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Janice Jackson
As the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Dr. Janice K. Jackson leads the nation’s third largest school district, with a budget of $7B serving over 340,000students. With over 16 years of executive experience, Dr. Jackson is a transformational and strategic leader with a track record of improving academic outcomes in urban school systems, new school design, operational execution, leadership and organizational change. Dr. Jackson has extensive skills and expertise in change management, communications, crisis management, labor management and negotiations, and risk management and mitigation. Adept in leading and managing through crisis and dynamic change, in 2018 Dr. Jackson led the first of its kind Enterprise Risk Management assessment for CPS leading to dramatic improvements in daily operations, audit reviews, public relations and overall performance. In addition, Dr. Jackson has expertise in talent acquisition, development, and retention and is recognized as a local and national policy influencer.Dr. Jackson is a 2007 Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago. She serves on multiple non-profit boards, including the Council of Great City Schools, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), Junior Achievement and Thrive Chicago. In these roles, Dr. Jackson has served on numerous Audit, and Recruitment and Selection Committees, and a Volunteer Committee.Dr. Jackson directly oversees a $7 billion budget and manages the entire operations for an organization with over 45,000 employees. Jackson has negotiated several contracts with multi-labor unions totaling ~$2B during her tenure. Dr. Jackson is a leader in innovation and possesses a gift for vision and strategy. Dr. Jackson created a progressive five-year strategic plan with ambitious organizational goals. As CEO, she has led several major enterprise information system overhauls to ensure efficiency, increase productivity and accountability while also protecting the organization by implementing the leading best practices in cybersecurity.Most recently, Dr. Jackson worked in partnership with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union, local elected officials, Chicago Department of Public Health, and a host of city agencies in response to the global pandemic. Dr. Jackson launched a comprehensive reopening framework that included health and safety protocols, remote learning guidelines, and support resources. Her collaborative efforts and forward-thinking has positioned the school district to navigate smartly through the human and educational challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.Dr. Jackson is a highly regarded public speaker and thought-leader in the field of education policy and leadership. In addition to a wide array of authentic and long-term relationships with local and national lawmakers, she has delivered passionate testimony regarding the negative impact of gun violence and poverty on children’s ability to learn on Capitol Hill. She has delivered testimony at the local and federal level to influence policy on a variety of educational policy issues. As district leader she has been hugely instrumental in advocating for evidence-based funding for CPS, and worked closely with elected officials to sign into law the landmark Evidence-Based Funding for the Student Success Act. Dr. Jackson’s leadership and track record have been leveraged in building a national multi-media marketing strategy.Although Dr. Jackson has spent her entire professional career in CPS she has been able to be entrepreneurial and bring about drastic change in a complex system. Prior to her recent executive roles, she founded and led two successful Chicago public high schools.Both institutions exceeded district averages across multiple performance indicators.She holds two degrees from Chicago State University and advanced degrees from University of Illinois at Chicago which include a Master's in Leadership and Administration and a Doctorate in Education in Policy Studies in Urban School Leadership. Dr. Jackson resides on the south side of Chicago with her husband, Torrence and two children.
Mitch Landrieu
Mitch Landrieu is an American Politician, Lawyer, author, speaker, nonprofit leader and CNN political commentator. He served as the 61st Mayor of New Orleans (2010-2018) When he took office, the city was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and in the midst of the BP Oil Spill.Under Landrieu's leadership, New Orleans is widely recognized as one of the nation’s great comeback stories. In 2015, Landrieu was named “Public Official of the Year” by Governing, and in 2016 was voted “America’s top turnaround mayor” in a Politico survey of mayors. He also served as President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.Landrieu gained national prominence for his powerful decision to take down four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, which also earned him the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile inCourage Award. In his best-selling book, In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History, Landrieu recounts his personal journey confronting the issue of race and institutional racism that still plagues America.In 2018, he launched E Pluribus Unum, an initiative in the South created to fulfill America’s promise of justice and opportunity for all by breaking down the barriers that divide us by race and class. E Pluribus Unum is building a series of programs and initiatives to cultivate courageous leaders who are committed to realizing an inclusive vision for a new South, champion transformative policies to reverse the enduring harms of America’s Jim Crow era past for those who continue to experience them today, and change narratives that perpetuate systemic and interpersonal racism in order to shift people’s attitudes and behaviors.Prior to serving as Mayor, Landrieu served two terms as lieutenant governor and 16 years in the state legislature. He and his wife Cheryl live in New Orleans, where they raised their five children.
Russell Moore
Russell Moore serves as public theologian at Christianity Today, and as director of the CT Public Theology Project.The Wall Street Journal has called Moore “vigorous, cheerful, and fiercely articulate.” He was named in 2017 to Politico Magazine’s list of top fifty influence-makers in Washington, and has been profiled by such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and the New Yorker.Moore was President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2013 to 2021. Prior to that role, Moore served as provost and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also taught theology and ethics.Moore is the author of several books, including "The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul, Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel" and "The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home".A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria, along with their five sons, live in Nashville, Tennessee, where he serves as a minister-in-residence at Immanuel Church.
Lotfullah Najafizada
Mr. Lotfullah Najafizada is an award-winning journalist and director of TOLOnews, Afghanistan’s top 24/7 news and current affairs TV channel. At TOLOnews, Mr. Najafizada oversees the largest news operation in Afghanistan. Mr. Najafizada has interviewed many global leaders, including former British Prime Minister David Cameron, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and former US NSA Gen HR McMaster, among others.His international recognition include Reporters Without Borders’s prestigious medal of Press Freedom Hero for his fight for free press in Afghanistan in 2016, TIME Magazine’s title of Next Generation Global Leader and Forbes magazine 30 under 30 Asia influencers in media.He has a BSc in Economics.