Mellody Hobson

Co-CEO

Ariel Investments

MELLODY HOBSON is responsible for management, strategic planning and growth for all areas of Ariel as Co-CEO. Additionally, she chairs the board of Ariel Investments’ publicly traded mutual funds. Prior to being named Co-CEO, Mellody spent nearly two decades as Ariel’s President. In 2025, she founded Project Level® to change the game in women’s sports. Mellody co-founded Ariel Alternatives, LLC in 2021 and its inaugural private equity fund, Project Black®. Beyond Ariel, she serves as a director of JPMorgan Chase and is the former chair of Starbucks Corporation. Mellody was a long-standing board member of the Estée Lauder Companies and former board chair of DreamWorks Animation, overseeing the company’s sale in 2016. She is deeply committed to philanthropy and is a well-known advocate of financial literacy. Mellody published a New York Times bestselling children’s book, Priceless Facts about Money. She earned her AB from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.