Jesse H. Ruiz

Ruiz was born and raised in Chicago.[6] He was the son of Mexican immigrants.[2][7] For several years, his father was an undocumented immigrant.[8] His father had come to the United States legally in 1943, and ultimately received a green card.[8][9] But from 1948 through 1955, Ruiz's father had been undocumented.[9]

Ruiz is the youngest of four children.[9]

Ruiz grew up in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.[9]

For elementary school, Ruiz attended St. Anthony's.[9]

Ruiz graduated from Marist High School in 1983.[6] He had been an honors student.[7][3]

Ruiz began his college career attending University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in its engineering program.[3] However, by February of his freshman year, he was failing several classes, which he would retrospectively attribute to, "a combination of being unfocused and enjoying campus life too much."[3] He dropped-out of the school, returning home and enrolling himself at Thornton Community College, while working part time as an auxiliary clerk at the American Medical Association.[3] He them reapplied to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this time seeking to be in its economics program.[3] He was readmitted to the university.[3] He graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.[5][6][7][9]

Beginning in 1992, Ruiz attended University of Chicago Law School, where he was editor of the University of Chicago Law School Round Table.[5][9] While at University of Chicago Law School, he attended classes taught by then-professors Barack Obama and Elena Kagan.[5][8][7][9] He graduated from the law school with his juris doctorate in 1995.[5][6][9]

After college, but before attending law school, Ruiz was a member of sales departments of Inland Steel Company and Ryerson Coil Processing Company.[5][9]

Ruiz was sworn into the bar in 1995.[9] Prior to practicing law, Ruiz also was a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he was a member of the Operations Management Group.[5] He worked there from 1995 through 1997.[9]

In 1997, Ruiz was hired as an associate by Gardner Carton & Douglas.[9] The firm would later merge into Drinker Biddle & Reath.[9] Ruiz was a partner partner at the law firm for over twenty years.[2][10] He focused on corporate securities, mergers and acquisitions and the representation of public and middle-market companies.[11][7] He would leave his role in the firm in 2019.[9] He worked with companies such as Walmart, Exelon.[7]

On October 30, 2006, Ruiz became a member of the board of directors of Commonwealth Edison.[5][12] He continued to serve on the board for many years.[5]

Ruiz served as president of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Chairman of the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois, Chairman of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms.[5] Ruiz has served on the boards of the Chicago Legal Clinic, Metropolitan Planning Council, Erie Neighborhood House, Chicago Commons, and the Chicago Community Trust.[5][7][9] Ruiz was previously on the American Bar Association's Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibility, to which the President of the ABA had appointed him in August 2013.[4]

Between 1999 and 2004, Ruiz served as Commissioner of the Illinois Supreme Court Character and Fitness Committee and Commissioner of the Chicago Public Schools Desegregation Monitoring Commission.[9] He had been appointed to the latter role by President of the Chicago Board of Education Gery Chico.[9]

Ruiz served as legal counsel to the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus and the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation.[9][11]

Politically, Ruiz supported the campaigns for office of his former law school professor Barack Obama.[9]

From February 2011 through 2013, Ruiz served on the United States Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission, to which United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had appointed him.[4][9]

Ruiz has taught as an adjunct professor in corporate law at UIC John Marshall Law School.[4][11]

Ruiz met his wife, Michele Ilene Ruiz, while attending University of Chicago Law School.[9][7] His wife was a partner at the law firm Sidley Austin.[7]

With his wife, Ruiz has two sons.[7] While Ruiz is Catholic, his wife and sons are Jewish.[7]

As of 2009, Ruiz and his family resided in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.[7]

Ruiz was the convocation speaker for 2014 economics graduates from the University of Illinois at Champaign.[36]

Awards

• Crain's Chicago Business "40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Chicago Business" (2003)[4]
• Chicago Lawyer "40 Attorneys Under 40 in Illinois to Watch" (2003)[4]
• Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation Leadership Award (2003 and 2009)[4]
• El Valor Education Excellence Award (2007)[13]
• National Association of State Boards of Education "Distinguished Service Award" (2011)[37]
• Walmart Legal Department's Walmart Spark Award for "outstanding client and community service and dedication to diversity in the legal profession" (2011)[4][5]
• Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth Barrisers Philantrophic Award (2012) -with Michele Ilene Ruiz[5]
• University of Illinois "Illini of the Year Award" (2013)[38]
• American Diabetes Association "Chicago Father of the Year" (2014)[39]
• Hispanic National Bar Association "Latino Layer of the Year" (2014)[5]