Please join us in welcoming Wemimo Abbey, Jessica Betts Dreyfus, and Trevor Morrison as the newest members of our Board of Directors! We are grateful to have their wisdom, vision, and expertise as part of LEDA’s leadership, and we look forward to working together to expand LEDA’s impact and success. Learn more below about these extraordinary individuals.
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| New LEDA Board members Wemimo Abbey, Jessica Betts Dreyfuss, and Trevor Morrison | ||
Wemimo grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and came to the United States when he was 17. He and his mother struggled to receive a loan without a credit score and borrowed money from a payday lender at over 400% interest. That experience inspired Wemimo and his co-founder to start Esusu, a financial technology company that helps households use their on-time rent payments to build credit. Most recently, Esusu raised a $130 million Series B equity financing round with a $1 billion valuation. Beyond Esusu, Wemimo is Board Member/Commissioner at the Smithsonian National Portraits Gallery. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Business Management. He earned his M.P.A. from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Wemimo was recognized on the Forbes 2020 30 Under 30 list, as well as the Crain’s and Fortune 40 Under 40 2022 lists. In 2021 and 2022, he was selected by Goldman Sachs as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.
Born and raised in Manhattan, Jessie attended The Ethical Culture and Fieldston Schools before studying Biology at Yale. She also received her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in 2006. Jessie has experience in many fields including a stint as a professional Pastry Chef. For the past 15 years, Jessie has devoted herself to her family business, Chelsea Piers, where she serves as First Vice President & COO of Chelsea Piers Field House. Chelsea Piers Field House recently celebrated the opening of their newest location in Prospect Heights Brooklyn. Jessie also has an extensive background in the non-profit space, most recently serving as Board Chair of the Chelsea Piers Scholarship Fund (recently renamed the Chelsea Piers Foundation) and Board Member of the First Tee of Metropolitan New York.
Trevor is the Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at New York University School of Law. He served as Dean of NYU Law from 2013 to 2022, during which time he led the school’s successful efforts to increase the diversity of the student body and the faculty. He is also Of Counsel at the firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. Trevor’s research and teaching interests are in constitutional law and federal courts. He also has considerable experience in public service, including as Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama in 2009. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, he was a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of the Solicitor General, an attorney-advisor in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, and an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale). Trevor began his teaching career on the faculty of Cornell Law School and later joined the faculty of Columbia Law School before coming to NYU. Trevor received a B.A. (hons.) in history from the University of British Columbia and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the Boards of the Brennan Center for Justice and the Abraham Joshua Heschel School.
Published October 19, 2023