Ashleigh Gardere, President, is a leader dedicated to a future where everyone in the nation can thrive, and has remained committed to making that future real in partnership with common and uncommon partners. Throughout her 20+ year career, she has witnessed the power of collaboration to deliver meaningful change, as she helped accelerate systems transformation and equity through executive roles in government, business, and the nonprofit sector. Now Ashleigh serves as President of PolicyLink, a research and action institute, where she is focused on redesigning the nation to work for all. She understands that realizing a flourishing multiracial democracy requires new values and governing standards in service of our collective flourishing; new ways of working between government and community; and new ways of being, individually and as part of institutions.

Ashleigh has raised over $350 million to support social innovation and institution-building towards this future of collective liberation.  She was also recognized by Living Cities as one of the nation’s Top 25 Disruptive Leaders working to close racial opportunity gaps.  Before joining PolicyLink, Ashleigh served as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of the New Orleans Business Alliance; Vice President of Community Relations at Chase Bank for Louisiana; and a senior advisor to former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, where she was the chief strategist of the Mayor’s Economic Opportunity Strategy.  

Ashleigh is the Board Chair of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, which partners with organizations and networks to alleviate poverty and increase social and economic justice in 11 Southern States. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from New York University and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow. She is proud to be from New Orleans, where she lives with her husband and two sons.