LeAnn Pedersen PopeFormer Partner, Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C.

LeAnn currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Opportunity International, Inc. A retired litigation partner in the Chicago law firm of Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, LeAnn was also the Chair and Founder of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Class Action Defense Group, maintaining a national business litigation practice concentrating in class action defense and multi-district litigation. During her extensive legal career, LeAnn successfully defended major banks and mortgage banking companies in over 200 nationwide class action cases filed in federal and state courts across the country.

After over 30 years as a litigation lawyer, LeAnn retired from the legal profession in 2015 to pursue a Master of Theology degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, which she completed in May 2020. LeAnn's master thesis—entitled From Colorblind to Clearer Vision: A White Christian's Unexpected Journey Toward Redemption—is the culmination of four years of extensive study and honest reflection regarding race, privilege and whiteness.

In addition to her deep commitment to Opportunity International and its global mission to end extreme poverty, LeAnn is also committed to social justice issues closer to home. LeAnn works with young African American men on the South Side of Chicago who are making a real effort to leave the street life through CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny), a nonprofit dedicated to effecting transformational change in Chicago gun violence.

LeAnn serves on the Board of Trustees of Carthage College in Kenosha Wisconsin. She has a grown daughter and son and lives in Winnetka with her husband, Clyde McGregor.