Andrea Zopp

Andrea Zopp was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education in May of 2011 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Ms. Zopp is a distinguished corporate and civic leader who has lead transformative change in the public and private sectors, was appointed as President and CEO of the venerable Chicago Urban League in September 2010. The Chicago Urban League supports and advocates for economic, educational and social progress for African Americans and other minorities through an agenda focused on economic empowerment as the key driver for social change. Before her appointment to the Chicago Urban League, Ms. Zopp was executive vice president and general counsel at the Exelon Corporation. In January 2008, she was appointed executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Prior to joining Exelon, Ms. Zopp was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Sears Holdings Corporation. Before joining Sears, Ms. Zopp was vice president, deputy general counsel in the law department at Sara Lee Corporation. Prior to Sara Lee, she was a partner in the litigation department of the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, specializing in the areas of commercial, employment and white-collar criminal litigation. Ms. Zopp was also the First Assistant State's Attorney in the Cook County State's Attorney's office where she was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the nation's second largest prosecutor's office. Ms. Zopp was the first woman and African American to serve in this role. From 2005-2007, Ms. Zopp served as a director of Andrew Corporation, a publicly traded $2 billion, international manufacturer and supplier of telecommunication systems, components and solutions. Ms. Zopp served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Area Project, a community-based delinquency prevention program. She was President of the Board of Directors of the Leadership Greater Chicago and is a member of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors. She spent six years on the Board of Trustees of the National Urban League and is a Member of Board of the Black Ensemble Theater. She also served on the Cook County Health and Hospitals Systems Board. Ms. Zopp is a Member of the Black Women Lawyer's Association, The Chicago Network, and The Economic Club. In March 2000, she was named by Illinois Governor George Ryan to serve on the Commission to Review the Illinois Death Penalty Process. In May 2003, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley named her as Co-Chair of a panel reviewing the City's building and safety code enforcement in the wake of the E-2 Nightclub tragedy. In September 2004 she became chair of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Magnet and Selective Enrollment School Admissions for the Chicago Public Schools. Ms. Zopp is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Ms. Zopp received a bachelor's degree in history and science and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University. She began her legal career as a law clerk to United States District Judge George N. Leighton in the Northern District of Illinois. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Harvard Law School, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago School of Law.