Governing in time of crisis: Lessons from two big city mayors
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Lori Lightfoot, Jenny Durkan, Barbara McQuadeDate & time
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The COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd rocked American cities in 2020. The mayors of Chicago and Seattle share their experiences and the more general lessons of governing during times of crisis.
Speaker bios:
Lori Lightfoot
On May 20, 2019, Lori E. Lightfoot became the 56th Mayor of the City of Chicago. Mayor Lightfoot came to City Hall following a career as a manager, advocate, and reform expert, with extensive experience working at the city and federal level to make government more accountable and accessible.
Before taking office, she served as a senior equity partner in the Litigation and Conflict Resolution Group at Mayer Brown LLP. While at Mayer Brown, Mayor Lightfoot took on two critical tasks for the City of Chicago, chairing the Police Accountability Task Force, and serving as president of the Chicago Police Board. Mayor Lightfoot held other key positions in City government, as the Interim First Deputy of the Chicago Department of Procurement Services and Chief of Staff and General Counsel of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Prior to that, Mayor Lightfoot was Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois criminal division, managing large-scale investigations involving criminal drug conspiracies, political corruption and bankruptcy fraud.
She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Michigan and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Jenny Durkan
As Mayor of Seattle from 2017 to 2021, Jenny Durkan led the city through unprecedented times, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being one of the first areas in the U.S. to experience diagnosed cases and deaths, Seattle’s strong and balanced response under Jenny’s direction resulted in one of the nation’s lowest incidences of disease, hospitalization, and death among major cities.
Her work during the pandemic earned her recognition from Fortune Magazine, naming her one of the “World’s 25 Greatest Leaders: Heroes of the Pandemic” in 2020. In June 2024, she was also recognized as a “Lamplighter” for her work by the American Democracy and Health Security Initiative, a collaboration that includes Brown University School of Public Health Pandemic Center and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Alongside her efforts in public health, Jenny championed educational opportunities through the Seattle Promise, a program providing two years of free college to public high school graduates. Her leadership continued to expand outside of Seattle, as she played a significant role on the international Steering Committee of C40 Cities, a global coalition of cities committed to addressing climate change. She also served on the C40 Mayors’ COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, collaborating with mayors from diverse regions to shape recovery efforts with a focus on climate, health, and economic resilience.
As U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington from 2009 to 2014, Jenny served as the Chief Federal Law Enforcement Officer for the region, overseeing all federal prosecutions and representing the United States in civil matters. During her tenure, she chaired the Department of Justice’s Subcommittee on Cybercrime, where she played a key role in revamping national strategies to detect and disrupt criminal and national security cyber threats. Her office investigated and prosecuted some of the first international cybercrime cases, setting the standard for how these cases would be handled thereafter. Jenny served on the US Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and was also a member of the DOJ’s National Security Subcommittee, holding the highest national security clearances and was regularly briefed on classified matters related to cyber and national security threats.
Barbara L. McQuade, BA ’87, JD ’91, is a professor from practice at Michigan Law School. Her interests include criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, data privacy, and civil rights. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Appointed by President Barack Obama, she was the first woman to serve in her position. Before becoming US attorney, McQuade was an assistant US attorney in Detroit for 12 years, serving as deputy chief of the National Security Unit, where she handled cases involving terrorism financing, export violations, threats, and foreign agents. She began her career practicing law at the firm of Butzel Long in Detroit. She previously taught at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.