Profiles

Michael H. Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He is the Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at the Business school, the first-ever human rights center at a business school.Michael H. Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He is the Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at the Business school, the first-ever human rights center at a business school.

Prior to joining NYU Stern, Michael served in the Obama Administration from 2009-2013 as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In 2010 he chaired the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

From 1978 to 2009, he led Human Rights First, a New York-based human rights advocacy organization. While at Human Rights First he was a founding board member of the Fair Labor Association. Before joining Human Rights First, Michael was a lawyer with Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Chicago. From 1981 until 2009 he was a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, and then Columbia Law School.

A member of the California Bar and the Illinois Bar, he received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall) in 1975, and a B.A. with distinction and honors in History from the University of Michigan in 1972. Michael resides with his family in New York City.