Leslie Cornfeld
Leslie Cornfeld is an entrepreneur, educator, equity advocate, policy advisor as well as a public and private sector consultant. Ms. Cornfeld has devoted her career to advancing equity and opportunity for our nation’s underserved communities — through their schools, justice systems and unconventional partners. She currently leads the National Education Equity Lab, a nonprofit that she founded to drive opportunity at scale through innovation, collaboration and action. Cornfeld served as the Special Advisor for the President’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative to United States Secretaries of Education Arne Duncan and John King Jr. during the Obama administration . She was also a fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. During the Bloomberg administration, Cornfeld was a public policy consultant and a two-term advisor for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and served as Chair of the Mayor's Interagency Task Force on Truancy, Chronic Absenteeism & School Engagement. Cornfeld is also a former Federal Prosecutor, and served as Deputy Chief of the New York City Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption (also known as "the Mollen Commission"). Cornfeld has contributed articles and opinion pieces to "The New York Times", "Newsweek", "Newsday", and "New York Law Journal," The Washington Post , The Huffington Post, and has made television appearances on "Dateline NBC", "Turning Point", and "PBS/WNET". She speaks regularly at national conferences and summits. In addition, she has been featured on podcasts such as Education Next and interviewed recently about the National Education Equity Lab on CBS. Early life and education. Born in Hollywood, FL, Cornfeld is a graduate of Broward County public schools, Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Career. Cornfeld began her career as Special Assistant to United States Senator Daniel P. Moynihan in Washington, D.C. She also served as  a law clerk to federal judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York before becoming a litigation associate at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Cornfeld served as the Deputy Chief of the New York City Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption (the "Mollen Commission"), where she supervised investigations of alleged police corruption and brutality, and the anti-corruption systems of the NYPD. Cornfeld served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and the Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Division for the Eastern District of New York. As a federal  prosecutor, Cornfeld led several public corruption and criminal civil rights cases from 1995 until 2002. Following the highly publicized child abuse death of Nixzmary Brown, Cornfeld was appointed Director of the Mayor's Interagency Task Force on Child Welfare and Safety. Cornfeld was appointed Chair of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Interagency Task Force on Truancy, Chronic Absenteeism & School Engagement in June 2010. A former senior Obama administration official, advising two U.S. Secretaries of Education and the White House for the President’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative from 2015-2017. Ms. Cornfeld was a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School  of Government from 2019-2020. Ms. Cornfeld has a strong track record of designing and leading high-profile, cross-sector efforts to tackle pressing social and community challenges. A Washington Post editorial praised the effort she led in NYC schools to address truancy and chronic absenteeism as “an example of what’s possible,” and the U.S. Conference of Mayors called it a “model for other cities.” Awards. Cornfeld twice received the National U.S. Attorney General's Director's Award for Outstanding Performance as a U.S. Attorney, Washington, DC. Boards. Cornfeld has served as trustee on non-profit and other boards , including the Children's Defense Fund, Washington, DC for over a decade; the Dalton School in New York City; the Hospital for Special Surgery; the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, and is founder of a public speaking program Girls Speak! in East Harlem, where she serves as a coach and mentor. She has served on the Board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Alliance for Excellent Education, and recently served on the Brookings Institute Task Force on Next Gen Community Schools.