Valerie M. Jensen, JD

About

Val Jensen serves as director for the Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity for the City of Saint Paul. She is also the president of Azon Consulting and expert in leading cultural change and talent development across and within organizations. She currently serves as She speaks, writes, and advises on leadership, diversity related issues, and healthcare disparities. She has spent her career bringing together individuals from very different backgrounds to problem solve and leverage their contributions and energies to help their organizations get the best results. Val has worked locally, nationally and internationally to develop organizations and the talent within those organizations despite differences and the barriers that may create.

Val has facilitated over 50 panel discussions and trainings on Diversity and Inclusion. She led a 27-person Board of Directors that included corporate General Counsels of Fortune 500 companies, managing partners, diversity professionals, and community leaders. 

She continues to facilitate conversations on topics, including but not limited to, gender bias, generational differences, racial bias and cultural differences, and leadership. During her career she has coached and counseled numerous attorneys, developed extensive programming on leadership and professional development and created platforms where everyone had an opportunity to participate and grow. 

Val teaches an upper level course on “Race and the Law” at Mitchell Hamline, where she graduated with her JD in 1996.  Val has a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in African/African American studies from Carleton College in Northfield, MN.