Dawn L. Smalls

Partner, Jenner & Block

Dawn L. Smalls is a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block, where she currently serves as the Monitor of a tier-one global financial institution. Smalls was previously a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, and before that served as Director of Democratic Participation for the Ford Foundation, where she oversaw approximately $40 million of grantmaking focused on democracy initiatives in the U.S. Previous foundation experience also includes serving as a Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations. In 2015, Smalls was appointed to the ACS board of directors.

During the Obama Administration, Smalls served as Executive Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. She also served during the Clinton Administration as Assistant to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and as a Special Assistant in the Office of Management and Budget.

During the 2008 campaign, she served as the New York State Political Director for the Obama for America campaign and a Regional Political Director for the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.

Smalls also served as a commissioner on the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the State agency tasked with ensuring that state elected officials and lobbyists comply with the State’s ethics and lobbying laws and regulations.

Smalls received a B.A. from Boston University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.