Mellody Hobson

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Mellody Hobson (born April 3, 1969) is the president of Ariel Capital Management, LLC, a Chicago investment firm managing over $19 billion in assets. She is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds. Hobson is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC's Good Morning America and a spokesperson for the annual Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey.

Hobson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from Princeton University in 1991 with a degree in South African Studies. She joined Ariel soon afterward as the firm's senior vice president and director of marketing until ascending to president in 2000.

Hobson serves on the board of many organizations, including the Chicago Public Library, the Field Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corporation, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc. Hobson has been acclaimed in selections such as Ebony Magazine's "20 Leaders of the Future" (1992), Working Women Magazine's "20 Under 30" (1992), the World Economic Forum's "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" (2001), Esquire's "America's Best and Brightest" (2002), The Wall Street Journal's 50 "Women to Watch" (2004)^[1] and Time's Global Business Influentials (2004).^[2]

Hobson is unmarried and has no children. She has recently appeared in public with film director and producer George Lucas and accompanied him to the Academy Awards ceremony in February 2007.