Audra Wilson

Audra Wilson is the president and CEO of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, a nearly 60-year-old national antipoverty organization that works at the intersection of race and poverty. She has been a champion for racial and economic justice for more than 20 years as a public interest lawyer and teacher, policy shaper, community mobilizer, and experienced executive manager. Throughout her career, Wilson has focused on the voices and experiences of communities of color and communities most impacted by injustice.

Wilson began her legal career as a welfare advocacy staff attorney with the Shriver Center where she focused on welfare reform implementation and food security issues in Illinois. She was then tapped by then-state-Senator Barack Obama to serve as the Deputy Press and Policy Director on his U.S. Senate campaign.

After the U.S. Senate race, Wilson returned to her public interest roots, serving as Director of Diversity Education and Outreach and Adjunct Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law for 7 years. At Northwestern, she co-founded the first formal consortium of law school diversity professionals in Chicago, seen as a national model. During this time, Wilson also served as a policy advisor to leading candidates for U.S. Senate, Illinois State Treasurer, and Lieutenant Governor.  

In 2013, Wilson accepted a position as Deputy Chief of Staff for United States Congresswoman Robin Kelly in the Second Congressional District of Illinois, where she oversaw all district operations and served as a surrogate for the Congresswoman while she was in D.C. Among other responsibilities, Wilson served as lead Illinois coordinator of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls. She still works as an advisor to the Caucus.

As Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Illinois, Wilson led critical change to expand the mission of a 100-year-old civic engagement organization with nearly 4,000 members and over 40 chapters statewide. Wilson advanced the League’s advocacy on issues of race equity and voting rights and built organizational capacity for fundraising and communications. In October 2019, Wilson was appointed chair of the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues by Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle. Wilson is also a board member for Bucknell University and Woodstock Institute and serves on the Illinois Commission to End Hunger. She is also the chair of the Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security.