Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq., a member since 1993, is Senior Managing Director of Lazard Frères & Co., LLC, New York, and Senior Counsel in the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, in Washington, DC. He earned a B.A. degree from DePauw University and a J.D. degree from Howard University School of Law. He was chairman of the Clinton Presidential Transition Team, and is both a past President of the National Urban League and former Executive Director of the United Negro College Fund.

His corporate and other directorships include: American Express Company (Senior Advisor); Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.; Lazard Ltd; Xerox Corporation; and International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold. He is a member of the Bars of Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Georgia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, The Bilderberg Meetings, and past President of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. He holds honorary degrees from more than 60 colleges and universities in America and is the author of Vernon Can Read! A Memoir (Public Affairs, 2001). In 2007, his portrait was unveiled in the Great Hall of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.