Tina Tchen

Christina M. "Tina" Tchen (born January 25, 1956) is an American lawyer and a former official in the President Barack Obama Administration. She was CEO of Time's Up from 2019 to 2021.

Early life and education Tchen was born in Columbus, Ohio, on January 25, 1956, to Chinese immigrants of Shanghainese descent who fled the People's Republic of China in 1949. Her father Peter Chou-Yen Tchen worked as a psychiatrist and her mother Lily was a scientist (chemistry from Syracuse University). In 1956, her father was facing deportation back to China but received help from Ohio Senator John Bricker. She grew up in Beachwood, Ohio, graduating from Beachwood High School in 1974. She graduated from Radcliffe College of Harvard University in 1978, In 1992, she argued on behalf of the State of Illinois in front of the Supreme Court of the United States in Artist M. v. Suter, which helped reform the state's foster care program by closing a loophole.

During President Obama's campaign in 2008, Tchen was one of his biggest fundraisers, raising $200,000. From 2011 until 2017, she served as Assistant to President Barack Obama; Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama; and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls.

In 2017, she became a partner in the law firm Buckley Sander where she led the workplace culture practice and was head of the firm's Chicago office. The fund has raised more than $24 million by 2019 and has connected more than 3,600 workers in various industries to legal support for sexual harassment cases.

In March 2019, Tchen was hired as an adviser to investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) "workplace culture" after allegations of sexual and racial harassment led to the firing of the SPLC's co-founder and resignation of its president.

On October 7, 2019, Tchen was appointed chief executive officer of Time's Up. Tchen's leadership has come under scrutiny amid revelations of assisting prominent Democratic politicians Andrew Cuomo and Joe Biden about the response to women who were publicly accusing them of sexual misconduct. She resigned on August 26, 2021, in the wake of Cuomo's resignation when it was revealed Tchen worked with the governor to discredit his first accuser.

Awards and recognition

Chicago Lawyer "Person of the Year", 1994 "Women of Achievement" award from the Anti-Defamation League, 1996