Our People

Staff

Gretchen Syverud served as Lumina's strategy officer for state policy and director of strategic alignment from 2016 to 2024.

Gretchen Syverud

Courtney Brown oversees the foundation’s efforts in strategic planning, learning, impact, and effectiveness. She also leads Lumina’s international engagement.

Courtney Brown

Vice President of Impact and Planning

Holiday Hart McKiernan, J.D., served as Lumina's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Holiday Hart McKiernan

McKiernan served at Lumina Foundation from 2003 to 2023

Danette Gerald Howard, Ph.D. served as Lumina's senior vice president and chief policy officer until Dec. 2021 overseeing several of Lumina’s key strategies to increase Americans’ attainment of high-quality postsecondary…

Danette Howard

Debra Humphreys, Ph.D., directs Lumina Foundation’s efforts related to student success in attaining high-quality four-year college degrees. She also oversees the foundation’s strategic communications team, working to influence national narratives…

Debra Humphreys

Vice President of Strategic Engagement

Wendy Lopez is the executive assistant for Lumina's Learning and Work team. Wendy brings extensive facilities and administrative experience having worked as an office manager at Veolia North America and…

Wendy Lopez

Executive Assistant

Dakota Pawlicki works for CivicLab directing the Talent Hubs work. He was previously a strategy officer at Lumina Foundation leading efforts focused on workforce education, particularly at community colleges.

Dakota Pawlicki

John served as Lumina's editorial director until 2024. He is a former editor with the Associated Press in New York City, Indianapolis, and Nashville.

John Strauss

Jasmine Haywood leads a portfolio of work that supports the creation of a system in which student success and credential attainment are scaled up significantly, particularly at four-year institutions. .

Jasmine Haywood

Strategy Director

Brad Kelsheimer served as vice president for finance and investments, and chief financial officer for Lumina from 2017 to 2022.

Brad Kelsheimer