Welcome Katie Hill, our new Executive Director

Dear friends and colleagues –

I am thrilled to share that, after an extensive national search, Katie Hill will become the new Executive Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab.

Katie shares our aspiration to have transformational positive impact on the most pressing and urgent challenges facing cities, most notably gun violence and improving the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system. Her commitment to working with the public sector, community organizations, and philanthropy to leverage data and generate the rigorous, scientific evidence needed to guide policy and practice have been demonstrated throughout her impressive career. We are fortunate to have her on board.

Katie brings a wealth of experience to the Crime Lab. She has approached our nation’s gun violence crisis and the challenges with our justice system from almost every angle of policy and legal work, including in the federal judiciary, in the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender, in Chicago’s City Hall, and in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Most recently, she served as General Counsel to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, giving her further insight into the ways social policy shapes almost every aspect of community life.

Katie’s contributions extend beyond her professional roles. She served on the board of Growing Home, an urban farm and workforce development center; has volunteered as an instructor at the UChicago Law School; and is a current board member of the Chicago chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Katie is also the board chair at ConTextos, a transnational nonprofit organization that works to interrupt social networks of violence through literacy and the arts. ConTextos does transformational education and violence prevention work in Chicago and El Salvador, including extensive work in the Cook County Jail.

Katie joins the Crime Lab at a pivotal time. Since our founding in 2008 in response to the heartbreaking murder of UChicago graduate student, Amadou Cisse, we have focused on designing, testing, and scaling data-driven innovations to improve the public sector’s response to the dual challenges of America’s gun violence crisis and a criminal justice system that is not truly just. To date, our research has helped to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment for highly effective, evidence-based programs. In 2022, we launched the Community Safety Leadership Academies which aim to educate police and community violence intervention leaders and stem the tide of gun violence across the country.

The progress we have made and our incredible growth since then is a testament to all our incredible staff, including first and foremost Roseanna Ander, to whom I am grateful beyond words. Since our founding in 2008 with a $100,000 seed grant, we’ve significantly increased our impact and scale of our ambitions. With an annual operating budget of $30M per year, we are able to invest in people, strategies, and programs that support our mission to reduce gun violence and advance justice.

With Katie on board, Roseanna will transition to a new leadership role within the organization, focused on ensuring both the Crime Lab and Education Lab have the support needed as we seek to have national and even international impact to create change at scale. In her new position as Founding Director, Roseanna will set strategic direction alongside our leadership team and drive ambitious fundraising efforts. She will continue to work with our government and nonprofit partners as we work to have both local and national impact. Roseanna will remain a vital public representative for the Labs, representing our initiatives at events and on global stages and continuing to be a resource to the media.

We are thrilled to welcome Katie to the team. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to her.

Sincerely,

Jens Ludwig

Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago
Pritzker Director, University of Chicago Crime Lab
Co-director, University of Chicago Education Lab