Expert Type: Staff

Chiara Chanoi is a research assistant at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, she worked as a research staff associate at Columbia University’s Department of Economics, where she primarily investigated racial disparities in police homicide victimization rates from economic and historical perspectives. She also participated in the Archer Fellowship program and interned at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Chanoi is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, where she studied economics with minors in mathematics and international business.

Jessica Presher is the senior director of finance, HR, and operations at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. She is responsible for ensuring that Equitable Growth has the internal systems and infrastructure in place to support its teams and enable the organization to meet its mission. Presher has spent more than a decade in nonprofit business operations, with experience in both start-ups and high-growth organizations. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, she was the chief operating officer at Miriam’s Kitchen, where she built out the organization’s Human Resource and Finance departments and streamlined systems to allow the organization to double in size. Presher holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a minor in religion from Wofford College and is a senior certified professional with the Society of Human Resource Management.

Megan E. Rivera is a fellow for policy and advocacy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, she was a senior policy analyst at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, where she led policy development and research projects on health and human services and postsecondary education. Rivera previously served as the policy and outreach advisor on the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, where she analyzed and organized national field hearings on workforce development, access to financial services, small business, housing, infrastructure, taxes, macroeconomic stabilization, and human services delivery. She also co-authored the Committee’s final findings and recommendation report, “Bridging the Divide: Building an Economy that Works for All” and served as an associate producer on the Committee’s documentary, “Grit & Grace: The Fight for the American Dream.” Previously, she served in research, policy, and advocacy roles for the University of Virginia’s Department of Politics, Global Policy Center, and Equity Center, and the Texas House of Representatives. Rivera holds a B.S. in political science with honors from the University of Houston and a master of public policy from the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.

Kimberly De Guzman is the senior digital marketing associate at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, Kimberly spent time teaching English in South Korea. De Guzman also worked as a digital editor for a Chicago news startup and managed social media for Education Post, an education policy nonprofit. She received a B.A. in journalism from Loyola University Chicago and recently graduated from Northeastern University with a master’s degree in international relations.

Gina Salerno is the director of development at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. She/they are a development professional with more than 15 years of experience in fundraising from government, corporate, and foundation sources. During their career, they have raised more than $75 million for programs working on entrepreneurship, women’s health, education, and climate change research. Before joining Equitable Growth, they were the director of development for the Open Markets Institute. Prior to joining the Open Markets Institute, they worked at Pacific Community Ventures, a community development financial institution based in Oakland, California. They have a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy from Arcadia University and a master’s degree in international relations from American University.

Shayna Strom is the president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. She has decades of experience bridging nonprofits, government, philanthropy, and academia, and a deep commitment to fostering economic growth by addressing inequality.

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

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 has worked with several prominent foundations and directed the early U.S. policy work at the Open Philanthropy Project. She also served on the initial leadership team setting up Indivisible as a national nonprofit.

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

Loria Lopez is the human resources director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, she dedicated her talents primarily to the federal contractor industry. She has managed every facet of HR and brings more than two decades of HR management experience. Lopez is passionate about all aspects of HR, including compliance, organizational and leadership development, policy development, employee relations, benefits administration, performance management, compensation, strategic planning, and more. She earned a B.A. in business with a concentration in HR from American Military University.

Aidah Johnson is the senior accounting manager at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Johnson has more than 18 years of operations, accounting, and finance experience. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, Johnson worked in the public relations, marketing, and healthcare industries. In addition to her professional experience, she brings with her an accounting degree and numerous certificates.

Melissa Grober-Morrow is the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s vice president, where she oversees programs, strategy, and operations for the organization. Grober-Morrow has devoted most of her career to expanding economic opportunity and seeks to center the needs of those historically excluded from opportunity. In her previous role as thought leadership director for financial resilience at AARP, she launched a new site for policymakers and corporate leaders focused on the future of work for people ages 50+, exploring the implications of major workforce trends affecting older workers, as well as equity considerations. She co-led the Living, Learning & Earning Longer Collaborative—an initiative of AARP, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Economic Forum, which was recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea in 2021. She also led efforts to highlight disparities in financial and health security to influence external thought leaders.

Grober-Morrow previously served as director of savings and financial capability at Prosperity Now, a national nonprofit intermediary whose mission is to ensure everyone in our country has a clear path to financial stability, wealth, and prosperity. She also worked as senior director of economic opportunity programs at Points of Light, where she designed a national financial coaching program managed by AmeriCorps members in 10 communities, and she ran free tax preparation sites for low-income New Yorkers at a community development financial institution. She proudly served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a school in Chicago and continues to believe in the transformative power of service.

Grober-Morrow has published and presented on issues such as the future of work, financial capability, disparities in economic opportunities and outcomes, healthy longevity, and the women’s wealth divide. She earned an M.P.A, from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a B.A. in psychology and brain sciences from Johns Hopkins University. She sings with SongRise DC and serves on the board of Girls Inc. of the Washington, DC metropolitan area in her spare time.