Yan Leigh, Ph.D., serves as the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children at Boston College's Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Prior to joining Boston College, Yan served as the Director of the Office of Research and Development at the Mississippi Department of Education, where she developed a dynamic research framework and agenda, led the Department's research team, and produced research to inform evidence-based decision-making for the Department's leadership. Yan is a Next Generation Leaders Awardee with the Consortium for School Networking, and a State Education Fellow with Results for America. Yan is a member of the Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers Initiative at the Council of Chief State School Officers, and a member of the National Center for Education Statistics Expert Panel on Educational Technology Equity Initiatives in the U.S. Department of Education. Yan also serves on the Policy Council with the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. With doctoral training in Economics, Yan is also experienced in project management and portfolio management, large-scale grant management as the Principal Investigator, and data privacy and governance.

Cynthia A. Scheller, Ed. D, serves as the Director of Student Support Programs and Practice at the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children. Previously, Cindy spent 23 years in public K-12 education, including nearly 10 years as a public elementary school principal in Providence and North Kingstown, Rhode Island. During her time as a principal, Cindy led school reform efforts at the building level, using data to inform decision-making, resulting in significant gains in student achievement. Her work focused on the importance of building teacher leadership capacity through a distributive leadership model as well as creating enriching learning opportunities for all students.  Prior to her time as a principal, Cindy worked at both the district and state levels in Rhode Island. As Supervisor of Secondary Reform Initiatives, and later Director of Professional Learning in the Providence Public Schools, Cindy led professional development, focusing on increasing teacher effectiveness and improving academic achievement via high-quality curriculum and differentiated instruction. She also established collaborative relationships with other key stakeholders, such as labor unions, neighboring district leaders and the RI Department of Education to support teacher induction and professional development. In these and other experiences, she applied learnings from her doctoral work at Johnson & Wales University, where she earned an Ed.D. in educational leadership. Cindy’s career began in the classroom. She followed her passion for music and taught junior high school music education for eight years. 

Joan Wasser Gish, J.D., M.A., serves as the Director of Systemic Impact at the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children. Joan works to embed what we are learning about effective and cost-efficient approaches to integrating comprehensive supports for children, youth, and families, into policy and practice at scale. Joan works with policymakers at the federal and state levels, and with numerous national and state-level coalitions and advisory boards, to translate lessons from research and implementation into a roadmap for action. Joan also catalyzes and supports strategic partnerships for the Center. Twice appointed by the Governor to the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, during her eleven year tenure, Joan helped to build systems that improved implementation quality and benefited children. Joan has worked on education, social services, and equity issues as an attorney, in a Presidential campaign, in the United States Senate, and in a community-based non profit. Joan has been published by the Washington Post, Brookings Institute, Education Week, Boston Herald, and Commonwealth Magazine, and frequently lectures at Harvard University and Boston College.