Jill Derby grew up in Los Gatos, California, but spent her early childhood on the family Flying Flapjack Ranch near Lovelock, Nevada, and every summer through college on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Glenbrook. She earned a BS from the University of California, San Francisco, and after living abroad and traveling widely, returned to Nevada to earn her BA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and both her MA and PhD from the University of California, Davis. Her political activism started in the mid-1970s with her involvement in Nevada's effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1988, she was elected to the first of three six-year terms on the Nevada Board of Regents. She was the Democratic candidate for Congress in Nevada's Second Congressional District in both 2006 and 2008. Derby is currently a Senior Fellow with the Association of Governing Board of Universities and Colleges, and Chairs the Board of the American University in Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan.