Joel J. Africk

Joel Africk is President and Chief Executive Officer of Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, where he oversees the activities of the Association’s 50-person staff and an annual budget of $5+ million. At Respiratory Health Association, Joel is a principal advocate for the Association’s policy agenda (the Association’s accomplishments include work on policy efforts to permit self-administration of asthma inhalers in Illinois, passage of Smoke-free Chicago and Smoke-free Illinois legislation, and the expansion of student health initiatives in Chicago).

Prior to assuming his current position, Joel was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP, where he represented clients in a broad range of business litigation matters. Joel is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he received a degree in Political Science and passed the Uniform CPA examination.