Diverse Paths of Leadership and Innovation: Jessica Whitney '99

Jessica Whitney '99 will be the featured speaker in the Diverse Paths of Leadership and Innovation speaker series on Friday, March 2. The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 2 p.m. in Noyce Science Center, Room 1023. The Donald and Winifred Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership is sponsoring the speaker series and associated course.

Whitney is the director of the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General who, in her more than 13 years for the Iowa Attorney General, has led numerous Iowa and multi-state consumer protection cases against for-profit colleges, national banks, auto dealers, and other businesses. These cases resulted in the correction of fraudulent business practices, restitution of hundreds of millions of dollars for consumers nationwide, and an increased level of consumer protection.

Whitney has also been an adviser of legislative, legal, and policy issues focused on curbing deceptive and unfair business practices, advancing responsible lending practices, and supporting the Attorney General’s mission to protect consumers. In 2016, she received the top annual award of Attorney General Career Staff of the Year by the National Association of Attorneys General for her extensive and integral work on several multistate consumer protection cases.

Whitney currently leads the Iowa Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection. The Consumer Protection Division is composed of 25 dedicated individuals who prosecute and investigate consumer fraud, mediate consumer complaints, educate the public on consumer fraud, advise and monitor consumer-related legislation, and provide comment on law and regulations that impact consumers. 

In 2002, Whitney began her legal career in Minneapolis as a litigation associate at the law firm Dorsey & Whitney.

She graduated from Grinnell College with a bachelor's degree in history and in 2002 graduated the University of Michigan Law School with a Juris Doctor.