Terri Brady

Terri’s passion is developing agile and effective leaders. As the executive director of professional development at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, she oversees leadership and professional development for Harris alumni. She also teaches communication, teamwork, and leadership skills and coaches students in the Harris Policy Labs courses, Data Scholars, and Obama Scholars programs.

At Harris Terri has created two school-wide leadership symposiums, introduced a leadership-style assessment to the Harris senior leadership team and dean, reinvigorated and professionalized the Harris Writing Program, organized an imaginative storytelling program, and orchestrated a series of webinars on “transitions” for alumni.

Terri also coaches executives, with a focus on physician leaders.

Before Harris, Terri was a senior leadership development coach at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where she established and managed the Kapnick Leadership Development Initiative at the University of Chicago Law School. She also managed change management, team dynamics, and other programming for the business students.

Prior to her position at the Booth School, Terri was the founder and CEO of TAB Consulting, as well as the communications consultant and a lecturer at Harris where she taught a popular course: “Leading through Persuasion: The Art of Communication.” Terri began her career as an attorney on Wall Street where she specialized in complex commercial litigation with Shearman & Sterling, among other firms.

Terri graduated with a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School. She received her JD from the Columbia University Law School where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a Thomas G. Shearman National Scholar, and an International Fellow. She received her BA in Russian/international studies from Grinnell College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, received the Grinnell Honor Scholarship, ran varsity cross country, and was named a Truman Scholar. She is a certified mediator and certified by the Hogan Assessment Systems. She is a current board member of Presbyterian Homes.

Terri lives with her husband in Chicago. They rehabbed and expanded an architecturally significant house originally constructed in 1900. She enjoys going to the theater, collecting antiques, traveling, cooking, hiking, and “not” learning to play the guitar.