Equitable Growth names Shayna Strom as interim president and CEO

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced that Shayna Strom has been named its interim president and CEO. Strom comes to the organization with decades of experience bridging nonprofits, government, philanthropy, and academia, along with a deep commitment to fostering economic growth by addressing inequality.

“I am honored to join the Washington Center for Equitable Growth as its interim president and CEO,” Strom said. “Equitable Growth’s mission is more important than ever—to support research that shows how inequality affects economic growth and to promote policies reflecting that. I have long been an admirer of Equitable Growth’s work, and I am thrilled to contribute as interim president and CEO in its next chapter.”

“For nearly a decade, Equitable Growth has worked to advance ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth,” said Equitable Growth Board member Steve Daetz. “Shayna brings a wealth of expertise from her time spent in government, nonprofits, and the academy that is critical in this role, and I am confident she will do an outstanding job leading Equitable Growth forward as one of the most influential economic research organizations.”

In addition to serving on the Biden-Harris transition team, Strom’s career in government includes 4 years working for the Obama administration, as an adviser to the head of the Office of Management and Budget and as chief of staff and senior counselor at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where she negotiated the policy and politics of many of President Barack Obama’s high-profile regulations. She previously served as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee for Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), where she worked on antitrust issues, among other topics.

Strom served as chief deputy national political director at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she helped launch a 75-person department focused on policy, issue campaigns, and grassroots organizing. She also served on the initial leadership team that set up the nonprofit organization Indivisible.

Additionally, Strom has taught at Johns Hopkins University, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. She was a 2021–2022 SNF Agora visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University and a fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. She has written and testified about labor policy and the changing workplace economy.

Strom graduated summa cum laude from Yale College, and received a J.D. from Yale Law School and an M.Sc. from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

Strom will lead Equitable Growth as interim president and CEO while the national executive recruitment firm BoardWalk Consulting works to find the next permanent president and CEO.