Former Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney
Kelley grew up as the youngest of three with an innate desire to succeed. As a student in an all girls academy, this drive was strengthened as she was surrounded by other young women who were working toward their own goals. She went on to become “a first” in the legal profession.
To hear the full Women to Watch™ Media interview with Kelley, listen below.
Full Biography
Kelley Hodge was elected by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Board of Judges to serve as the 25th District Attorney of Philadelphia. Ms. Hodge, a onetime Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney, became the first African American woman to lead the District Attorney’s office in its 167-year history and the first African American woman to lead a District Attorney’s Office in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Before becoming District Attorney, Ms. Hodge was the first independent Title IX coordinator at the University of Virginia, where she helped develop and implement sex and gender harassment policies across the University’s eleven campuses. Ms. Hodge worked proactively and effectively to address alleged sex and/or gender-based harassment and intimate partner violence. Appointed by Governor Tom Corbett, Ms. Hodge previously worked as the Safe Schools Advocate for the School District of Philadelphia advocating on behalf of victims of violence in schools, and later served on the Pennsylvania Joint State Commission on Violence Prevention.
Ms. Hodge earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA and her law degree from the University of Richmond. She began her legal career as a public defender in Richmond, Virginia in 1997. She joined the Philadelphia DAO in 2004 and worked there for eight years trial attorney and supervisor. Later in her career, she would teach law as an adjunct professor of law at Drexel University.
Ms. Hodge is a Montgomery County native having attending Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown, PA. She currently serves on the Boards of Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Villanova Law School’s Institute on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, the Community College of Philadelphia’s Center for Law and Society, and has been a past Board member of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate wrongfully convicted men and women. She is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Montgomery County Bar Association, Jack and Jill of America, Inc and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She currently resides in Philadelphia with her husband and 10 year old son.
For more information on Kelley, check out the link below!
