Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

Ellen Schumer

Staff Lead, Community Organizing on Family Issues

Ellen Schumer is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) in Chicago. Ms. Schumer previously founded and directed the Women Leaders in Action Pilot Project (1989-1992) – a women’s leadership development initiative, and before that she served as Illinois Political Director and on the national political staff of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Ms. Schumer has 50 years of experience working in community organizing and with unions and political campaigns. She began her career working on the campaigns of Congressman Abner Mikva and Senator Paul Simon, on the staff of the Midwest Academy, and as a community organizer with United Neighborhood Organization (UNO). She is the foster and adoptive mother of two (now adults) and a proud grandmother of three.