Derek R. B. Douglas

Civic leader Derek R.B. Douglas was born on February 19, 1971 in St. Joseph, Michigan to Yvonne Sebro and Walter Douglas. He received his B.A. degree in economics in 1994 from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and his J.D. degree in 1998 from Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut.

After receiving his J.D. degree, Douglas was hired as a law clerk by U.S. Court of Appeals Third Circuit Judge Timothy Lewis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked for a year before joining the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as assistant counsel in New York City. In 2002, he was hired as an associate attorney by O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Washington, D.C., working primarily in regulatory law. The Center for American Progress appointed Douglas as its associate director for economic policy and director for the economic mobility program in 2005. From 2007 to 2009, he directed the Washington, D.C. office of New York Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson as their counsel. After the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Douglas served as the special assistant to the President for urban affairs for the White House Domestic Policy Council until 2012. During his time in the Obama administration, he advised the President on metropolitan policy issues with an emphasis on economic development, community reinvestment, health, education, housing, transportation, and public-private partnerships. In 2012, Douglas left the White House for the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, where he served as vice president for civic engagement and external affairs for ten years. At the University of Chicago, he oversaw the development of the Civic Leadership Academy and expanded the university’s work with Chicago Public Schools Students. In 2022, Douglas was appointed as the president of the Civic Committee and the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Douglas has served as a director on the boards of the Argonne National Laboratory; the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools; the Skadden Fellowship Foundation; the Civic Consulting Alliance; Kids First Chicago; the Western Golf Association/Evans Scholarship Foundation; Openlands; and Teach For America.

Douglas received the Urban Leadership Award from the Penn Institute for Urban Research in 2012 as well as an Honorary Doctorate from Andrews University in 2013. In 2009 and 2011, he was named to the The Root's "Root 100" and was named to the "Men of Excellence" list by The Chicago Defender in 2022.

Douglas lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife, Ellen Douglas. They have two daughters.

Derek R.B. Douglas was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 13, 2023.