A former middle school special education teacher specializing in adolescents with learning and emotional disabilities, Valerie taught in East Harlem, New York and Australia. She also served as a confidential assistant to Secretary Richard Riley at the U.S. Department of Education during the first Clinton Administration. Valerie was an International Relations major at Stanford University, and has Masters degrees in Social Studies and Special Education from Teachers College and Bank Street College of Education. Valerie is Chair of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and is a trustee of Achievement First, the Asian Cultural Council, D.C. Preparatory Academy, Greenwich Academy, the Gilder Lehrman Institute and Teachers College Columbia University. She was a trustee of Spelman College and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She lives with her three children in Old Greenwich, CT.