Chike Aguh is Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Department of Labor.
He is a Senior Principal at the McChrystal Group, a firm founded by Gen. (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal. He serves as the firm’s subject matter expert on future of work. As a Council of Foreign Relations (CFR)term member, member of CFR’s Future of Work Taskforce, inaugural Future of Work Fellow at the International Society for Technology in Education, and advisor to the American AI Forum, Chike writes and speaks on the future of work, particularly through the lens of underserved communities. At the Carr Center, Chike’s research was on the impact of new technologies on the human right of economic dignity and how America can secure that right for all, regardless of race.
Previously, he worked as an education policy official under the Mayor of New York City, a 2nd grade teacher and Teach For America corps member, a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand, a corporate strategy director at the Advisory Board Company, and CEO of a national social enterprise which helped connect 500,000 low-income Americans in 48 states to affordable internet and digital skills.
Chike holds degrees from Tufts University (B.A.), the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ed.M), the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (MPA), and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (MBA). He is a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar, past Council on Foreign Relations term member, Washington Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree, Wharton 40 under 40 honoree, and past member of the HKS Alumni Board of Directors. He has been featured at and in the White House, CNNMoney, Forbes, Wired Magazine, and Fast Company.
I have known Chike for years, ever since he was a prominent member of the Tufts undergraduate community, as President of the Tufts Community Senate. I enjoyed some wonderful thoughtful conversations with him, particularly on inequality and race.
He was a close friend of one of my treasured alumni Asi-Yahola Somburu, an EPIIC veteran of our 2004 colloquium/symposium “Oil and Water.” Together they created one of the campus’ most important forums, the Emerging Black Leadership Symposium. Of its origin, Asi kindly wrote me – Furthermore, the mental seed for the Emerging Black Leadership would never have been created nor watered (in my mind or in Chike’s if not for EPIIC).
As TCU’s President, Chike was instrumental in awarding the University’s highest alumni award, The Light on the Hill Award,” to another of our mentors, and EPIIC alumni, UNDP’s Nick Birnback.