NWLC Staff

Jennifer Klein is a Professor of Professional Practice and leader of the Institute of Global Politics Women’s Initiative at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), developing evidence-based strategies to advance gender equality in the United States and around the world.

Prior to joining SIPA, Klein was assistant to the president and director of the White House Gender Policy Council, which she led since President Biden established the first-ever Gender Policy Council in March 2021.

Klein has worked on domestic and global gender policy throughout her career and has advised the president on issues including health and reproductive rights, gender-based violence, women’s economic security, and human rights. During the Obama-Biden administration, Klein served as a deputy and senior advisor in the Office of Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State. During the Clinton-Gore Administration, she worked at the White House in a dual appointment as First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s senior domestic policy advisor and a special assistant to the president on the Domestic Policy Council.

Klein began her career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. She has taught domestic and global gender policy at the Georgetown University Law Center, as a senior visiting fellow in international and public affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University, and as a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Legal Challenges at Yale Law School. She graduated from Columbia Law School and attended Yale Law School as a visiting student during her third year. She has served on a number of non-profit boards, including the Brown University Women’s Leadership Council, International Center for Research on Women, and Global Institute for Women’s Leadership Advisory Council at King’s College London.