Paula Wolff

Paula Wolff is Senior Executive at Chicago Metropolis 2020. Her work emphasizes analysis and reform of the criminal justice system to reduce violence and inappropriate incarceration. Wolff served between 1992-2000 as President of Governors State University, the only upper-division university in Illinois. Governors State University (GSU) serves over 9,000 undergraduate transfer or returning students and those seeking master’s degrees in the south suburban and Chicago areas. Between 1977 and 1991, Wolff served as Director of Policy and Planning for Governor James R. Thompson. In 1990-91, she directed Governor Jim Edgar's Transition Team as she had participated in Governor James R. Thompson's in 1976-77. Prior to her appointment as GSU President, she was a Visiting Fellow at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; she also established a not-for-profit collaborative serving four pilot sites in the Chicago public schools. She serves on numerous boards including the Joyce Foundation, the Ariel Capital Management Board, the Safer Foundation, the Johnson Foundation, University of Chicago Medical Center and the University of Chicago. She is married to Wayne W. Whalen, a lawyer, and has five children.