Jeri Powell is a Graduate Coach, educator, and strategic advisor with more than 15 years of experience helping students and professionals navigate complex academic, leadership, and career decisions. She currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she teaches graduate courses on leadership, public policy, democratic institutions, and gender equity, and supervises consulting teams working with public and nonprofit organizations. She received the Columbia SIPA Outstanding Teaching Award in 2022 and joined the faculty of the school’s Global Leadership MPA.
Jeri brings extensive experience working with ambitious individuals as they define their goals, develop their strengths, and communicate their experiences effectively. As the founder of Take Office, a leadership organization she established in 2019, she has designed leadership programs and global convenings and advised a network of more than 150 emerging and established leaders across government, nonprofit organizations, advocacy, and civic life. Before joining Columbia’s faculty she served as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at New York City’s Department of Investigation, advising senior leadership on complex policy and organizational issues, and she began her career as a capital markets attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and Paris. She has also served as President and Board Chair of the New York Junior League, where she led an organization of more than 2,800 members and a seven-person staff.
Jeri earned her AB in economics and French from Duke, where she served as Student Body President and an undergraduate member of the Board of Trustees, and her JD from Columbia Law School, where she received the Parker School Certificate in International Law. She is fluent in French and has lived and worked internationally, including in Paris. As a Graduate Coach, Jeri particularly enjoys helping students identify the experiences and interests that make them distinctive, develop a clear narrative around their goals, and approach the application process with confidence, organization, and intention.
