Mellody Hobson
Encyclopedia
Mellody Hobson is the president of Ariel Investments, LLC, a Chicago investment firm managing over $3 billion in assets. It is also one of the largest African American
-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the United States. She is also the Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds. Hobson is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC
's Good Morning America
and a spokesperson for the annual Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey.
Hobson was born in Chicago
, Illinois
, attending St. Ignatius College Prep
high school, and then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991 from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy at Princeton University
. She joined Ariel soon afterward as an intern and rose to become the firm's senior vice president and director of marketing. She ascended to become the firm's president in 2000.
Hobson serves on the board of many organizations, including the Chicago Public Library
, the Field Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute
. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corporation
, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
, Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc.
and Groupon
. Hobson has been acclaimed in selections such as Ebony
magazine's "20 Leaders of the Future" (1992), Working Women Magazine's "20 Under 30" (1992), the World Economic Forum
's "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" (2001), Esquire
' s "America's Best and Brightest" (2002), The Wall Street Journal
' s 50 "Women to Watch" (2004).
Hobson is unmarried and has no children. She has been dating film director and producer George Lucas
since 2006.
She created and hosted a show on ABC on May 29, 2009 called Unbroke: What You Need to Know About Money. It was intended to educate people about money in a creative way. It featured celebrities such as the Jonas Brothers
, Oscar the Grouch
and Samuel L. Jackson
to talk about economics.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the United States. She is also the Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds. Hobson is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
and a spokesperson for the annual Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey.
Hobson was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, attending St. Ignatius College Prep
St. Ignatius College Prep
Saint Ignatius College Prep is a private, coeducational Jesuit high school located in Chicago, Illinois. The school was founded in Chicago in 1870 by Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J., a Belgian missionary to the United States. The school is coeducational, Catholic, college preparatory and sponsored by the...
high school, and then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991 from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. She joined Ariel soon afterward as an intern and rose to become the firm's senior vice president and director of marketing. She ascended to become the firm's president in 2000.
Hobson serves on the board of many organizations, including the Chicago Public Library
Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 79 branches, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the city....
, the Field Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corporation
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Estée Lauder Companies
Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...
, Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc.
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
and Groupon
Groupon
Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto...
. Hobson has been acclaimed in selections such as Ebony
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...
magazine's "20 Leaders of the Future" (1992), Working Women Magazine's "20 Under 30" (1992), the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
's "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" (2001), Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
Hobson is unmarried and has no children. She has been dating film director and producer George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
since 2006.
She created and hosted a show on ABC on May 29, 2009 called Unbroke: What You Need to Know About Money. It was intended to educate people about money in a creative way. It featured celebrities such as the Jonas Brothers
Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...
, Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body , has no nose , and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items...
and Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
to talk about economics.