Vera Institute of Justice

Victor O. Obaseki is the director of race, equity, and inclusion (REI) at Vera, helping staff across the Institute operationalize equity and inclusion in all their internal and external work. Supported by current and former staff, he led the REI team in launching Vera's first REI Strategy and Action Plan in 2021. In his role on the Vera Leadership Team (VLT), Victor focuses the VLT on issues of equity in Institute programs, policy, practice, and culture.

Before joining Vera in 2020, Victor served as the first equity officer for the City of Dallas, Texas. His work in Dallas included overseeing the design and implementation of the city's COVID-19 Health Equity Assessment Tool and Budget for Equity Assessment.

Victor previously worked as the first policy coordinator at the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis in Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. In his university role, Victor led the Institute's efforts to work with legislators, educators, students, and policy advocates to advance racially just law and policy through the consideration of social science and legal research. For his work at the university, in 2017, he won the Alumni of the Year award from the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society at The University of Texas School of Law.

Victor previously served as a board member of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library's Future Forum.

He holds a BA from the University of North Texas and a JD from The University of Texas School of Law.