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June 17, 2026
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June 17, 2025 — Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, PhD, an expert in education policy, has been elected chair of the Board of Directors of the Milbank Memorial Fund, a more than 100-year-old operating foundation that aims to improve population health and health equity.
Dr. Richburg-Hayes’ education career has been focused on using rigorous research to improve academic outcomes among at-risk and vulnerable students. From 2023 to 2025, Dr. Richburg-Hayes served as vice president, education, at Westat, and from 2017 to 2023, she held a similar position at Insight Policy Research, a small-woman owned evaluation firm.
Prior to that, she was director of the Young Adults and Postsecondary Education Policy Area at MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization dedicated to learning what works to improve programs and policies that affect populations with low income. Dr. Richburg-Hayes assumed her role as chair at the Fund’s May 19, 2026, Board of Directors meeting in New York City. She succeeds John M. Colmers, former vice president, health care transformation and strategic planning, for Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene from 2007 to 2011.
“Having worked closely with Lashawn for years, I know that the Milbank Memorial Fund, and the state health policymakers and researchers it supports, will benefit greatly from her leadership,” said Colmers, who served as Milbank Memorial Fund chair for four years.
“I’m excited to continue my service on the board of the Milbank Memorial Fund,” said Dr. Richburg-Hayes, who has served on the board since 2015. “Applied research and evidence-based policy have been the foundation of my work, and I look forward to continuing to bring this lens and my leadership experience to the board role.”
The Fund’s board also elected two new members at its May meeting: Nat Kendall-Taylor, PhD, chief executive officer at the FrameWorks Institute, a strategic communications organization, and Nick Macchione, chief health officer and chief executive at East Campus Medical Center at UC San Diego Health.
“I’m grateful to have Lashawn at the helm of our Board, as well as the input of Nat and Nick, as we find ways to improve population health for all in a complex policy environment,” said Milbank Memorial Fund President Debra Lubar, PhD.
Dr. Richburg-Hayes has a BS degree from the Industrial and Labor Relations School of Cornell University. She received her PhD in economics from Princeton University.
See all board members.
