Rev. Dr. Janette C. Wilson currently serves as the Senior Advisor to Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., National President of RainbowPUSH Inc., Assistant Pastor of the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church and is employed Special Assistant to the Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Public Schools.
Janette is the co-founder of Wilson, Howard P.C. Attorneys at Law Inc., a firm she and her husband formed in 1980. She served as a criminal defense attorney for more than 15 years (1980-1995).
Rev. Wilson left private practice of law from 1982-1995 to serve as the full time Assistant General Counsel for Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and Operation PUSH Inc. and ultimately was appointed to serve as PUSH’s National Executive Director. Following her tenure at PUSH, Attorney Wilson served as Interim General counsel for Chicago State University for one year. She served a Special Counsel to Mayor Eugene Sawyer throughout his term in office in 1987.
Janette is a member of the Cook County Bar Association. She was instrumental in forming the Interfaith Lawyers Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. She has lectured on a number of subjects in the area of civil rights, affirmative action and school law. She has been an adjunct professor at a number of seminaries and universities, teaching courses in Marketing, Business Law, Church Law, Ethics, and Church Administration.
Janette received a B.A. in Chemistry in 1971 from Mac Murray College in Jacksonville, Illinois and a Masters in Environmental Science from Governor’s State University in Illinois in 1975. She is a graduate of John Marshall Law School in Chicago where she received a J.D. in 1980 and was admitted to the Illinois Bar the same year. In 1997, Janette received a Doctor of Divinity from United Theological Seminary. She has been admitted to the Federal Trial Bar and the US Tax Court and the US District Court in 1983.
Janette Wilson’s publications and research include: Doctoral Thesis “A Living Our Faith, But Under The Law”, Master's Thesis "Biochemical Fate of Tin in the Environment", HMO Feasibility Study for the Sidney Hillman Health Centre, Second Surgical Opinion Grant Application for ACTWU and articles in the African American Pulpit.
Attorney Wilson’s business and professional affiliations have included: National Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity, Coalition of Labor Union Women (1975-1980), Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Inc., National Association Health Lawyers (1975-1980), Illinois Association of HMO Executives (1975-1980) and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
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Attorney Wilson was appointed by the late U.S. Representative Charles Hayes to represent the 1st Congressional District of Illinois at the White House Conference on Small Businesses (1986) and to represent the 1st Congressional District of Illinois at the Illinois International Trade Conference. She was honored by Dollars & Sense Magazine as one of America's Top 100 Black Business and Professional Women, and by the Cook County Bar Association with the William R. Ming Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Civil Rights.
