Initiative Team
Terri Gerstein, Director
Terri Gerstein is the Director of the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative at NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Previously, she directed the Project on State and Local Enforcement at the Harvard Law School Center for Labor and a Just Economy and was a Senior Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute. She is also a former Open Society Foundations Leadership in Government Fellow. Terri was a longtime public servant in New York state government; she worked for over 17 years enforcing labor laws, including as the Labor Bureau Chief for the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and as a Deputy Commissioner in the New York State Department of Labor. Before her government service, Terri was a nonprofit lawyer in Miami, Florida, where she represented immigrant workers and also co-hosted a Spanish language radio show on workers’ rights.
She speaks and writes frequently about labor and workers' rights issues, with bylines in a range of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, CNN, The American Prospect, Teen Vogue, and more. She has testified in the U.S. Senate and in a number of state legislatures. Terri is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Jessica Looman, Senior Fellow
Jessica Looman has served in both state and federal government roles, including most recently as the Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division during the Biden administration. In that position, she was entrusted with enforcing compliance with foundational federal labor standards including minimum wage, overtime, and family and medical leave protections for over 165 million workers across the nation.
Prior to her federal service, Looman served as a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Minnesota state government agencies and as the Executive Director of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council. Her extensive experience will be invaluable in furthering the Labor Initiative’s work with state and local government agencies that enforce labor laws and protect workers’ rights.