Ellen-Blair Chube
Vice President, Chief of Staff to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer?????
Ariel Investments LLC
Chicago
Age: 32
Despite the rigors of law school, Ellen-Blair Chube found her interest in public service intensifying while still a student at Georgetown University in the nation?s capital. ?Something in the water,? she jokes.
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Upon receiving her juris doctor from Georgetown in 2005, Chube seized the opportunity to work in the U.S. House of Representatives as a senior adviser to Rep. Harold Ford and subsequently in the U.S. Senate as the staff director for the Subcommittee on Security, International Trade and Finance, and counsel to Sen. Evan Bayh. During her tenure on Capitol Hill, she was profiled as ?Hill Staffer of the Week? on a Washington Post blog. ?Both experiences taught me how to successfully navigate the competing interests of various groups in order to find common ground, as well as gracefully operate under pressure in a fast-paced environment,? she explains.
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Nine years later, Chube returned to the Midwest, where she had earned a bachelor?s degree in political science at Northwestern University. This time, she would work with two of her longtime idols, John W. Rogers Jr. and Mellody Hobson, chairman/CEO and president, respectively, of Ariel Investments LLC, as vice president and chief of staff to Rogers. She sets the chairman?s agenda, providing strategic and operational support, translating his short- and long-term vision into actionable strategies for his leadership team, acting as his chief adviser on political and public policy issues, and leading all of his special projects.
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Within a year of arriving in Chicago, Chube was named one of ?100 Women to Watch? by Today?s Chicago Woman. ?Making the transition from public service to the private sector was easy for me because I?m working for a dynamic organization that?s committed to more than making a profit,? she says. ?Whether it?s investing in the community through education or other resources, I know that we?re making a great impact.?
