Jennifer Raab

President and Chief Executive Officer at NYSCF

Bio

Jennifer J. Raab is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to accelerating cures for the major diseases of our time through stem cell research.

Prior to leading NYSCF, Ms. Raab served for twenty-two years as President of Hunter College, stepping down in June 2023. During her tenure, she transformed Hunter into the “crown jewel” of the City University of New York and a model for public higher education nationwide. Among her achievements at Hunter were the construction of a state-of-the-art research facility in Manhattan’s Weill Cornell Belfer Center and the development of institutional partnerships with leading medical and scientific research institutions, including a $50 million NIH clinical translational research grant with Weill Cornell Medical College.

Ms. Raab significantly expanded philanthropic support for the college, raising more than $531 million. Her efforts translated into major increases in student scholarships and endowed faculty chairs, while providing support for innovative academic initiatives. Concurrently, she increased Hunter’s footprint in the arts and humanities, building new libraries, galleries, and theater space, establishing centers for Jewish Studies, Asian Studies, and other interdisciplinary initiatives, and rehabilitating and repurposing Roosevelt House into a public policy institute. She also launched the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and raised $52 million to expand Hunter College Nursing school and develop a community health nursing program with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Her work has garnered many awards and accolades, including election in 2016 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2022, she earned the Gold Honor Medal for distinguished service to society and humanity from the National Institute of Social Sciences. Ms. Raab has received additional honors from organizations including the Martina Arroyo Foundation, Albany Law School, United Way of New York City, and the Kennedy Child Study Center.

Earlier in her career, she served as Chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, where she was widely recognized for her stewardship of the agency tasked with safeguarding and conserving the city’s historic structures and architectural legacy. Previously, Ms. Raab was a litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and as a director of public affairs for the New York City Planning Commission. More recently, she served on the NYC Charter Revision Commission under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

A graduate of Hunter High School, Ms. Raab received her BA with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University, a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, and a JD cum laude from Harvard Law School where she was a writer and staff editor for the Women’s Law Journal.