LaVerne Evans Srinivasan

LaVerne Evans Srinivasan is a nationally recognized leader in education and social impact. She recently concluded an 11-year tenure as Vice President of the National Program and Director of the Education Program at Carnegie Corporation of New York, where she oversaw the foundation’s education grantmaking—directing up to $65 million annually—and led multiple strategic evolutions of the program. Her most recent work focused on Education for Economic and Social Mobility and Education for Civic Participation.

During her leadership, Srinivasan guided the Corporation’s education initiatives through a period of historic change, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Among her key accomplishments, she coordinated the Corporation’s New York–based relief efforts, launched a collaborative postsecondary funders group, and established a practitioner leadership network to amplify the impact of grantees. She strengthened K–12 systems that connect family and community engagement, college access, and career pathways, and has been a consistent advocate for system-level change and leadership development.

Srinivasan spearheaded the creation of Profiles in Collective Leadership, recognizing local leaders who build cross-sector partnerships to improve educational and economic outcomes. She also helped launch and support several major initiatives, including the MIT Systems Awareness Lab, Collective Change Lab, FutureEd at Georgetown University, and the EdPrep Lab—a collaboration between the Learning Policy Institute and Bank Street College of Education.

An Aspen Global Leadership Fellow and Pahara Fellow, Srinivasan has been a long-standing champion of research and policy innovation. She has partnered with leading institutions such as the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, the Stanford Educational Opportunity Project, and Opportunity Insights. Most recently, she helped launch the Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness initiative through the Institute for Citizens and Scholars.

Before joining Carnegie, Srinivasan served as Deputy Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, President of New Leaders, and Senior Vice President and General Counsel at BMG Entertainment. She began her career as an attorney at Shearman & Sterling LLP.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Srinivasan now focuses on board service and initiatives that reflect her lifelong commitment to educational equity, civic engagement, and opportunity for all.