O’Meara formerly served as Director of Strategy and Learning for the Davis Foundation
Springfield—The Directors of The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation have announced that Massachusetts native Kiley O’Meara has been named new Executive Director of the Foundation. In her role, O’Meara will oversee the Foundation’s strategic initiatives and brings with her three decades of experience in philanthropy, policy, and education.
For the past year, O’Meara has served the Davis Foundation as Director of Strategy and Learning. She previously worked as a senior researcher at Stanford University at the PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) research center. In that position, she supported continuous improvement in policy and philanthropy through research, data-based insights and analysis, and strategic planning.
Specializing in improving education for low-income youth, O’Meara has conducted pivotal research on initiatives supported by major foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her diverse career spans roles such as Director of Policy and Research at GreatSchools; Program Officer at The Stupski Foundation in San Francisco; and Policy Director of the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative, part of the national Hewlett-Annenberg Challenge school improvement effort.
O’Meara served as an AmeriCorps member after graduating college, teaching inmates at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston. She then went on to be a TK-12 educator before entering the realm of policy and research.
According to O’Meara, “I am grateful and honored to be a part of the Davis family’s tradition and legacy of giving and am excited to continue the Foundation’s strong commitment to early literacy as a key lever to accessing opportunity. I have deep respect for all those in this region doing important, challenging work every day to improve the lives of children and families.”
According to Laurel Ferretti, Davis Foundation Director, “We welcome Kiley to this critically important leadership position at the Foundation. We identified her as a vital resource to the Foundation when bringing her onboard last year to serve as Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation. In that position she has played an important role in helping us develop our strategic priorities. Most of all, her work experience demonstrates her passion and her alignment with the goals of the Foundation in advancing early learning, innovation in education and helping people in our region access the tools necessary for their own economic success.”
O’Meara grew up, studied and worked in Massachusetts and spent 20 years in California before returning to the East Coast. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Middlebury College. In the community, O’Meara serves in leadership roles at Choate Rosemary Hall’s Parent’s Association and the Harvard Alumnae Association, and also volunteers at Healing Meals in Simsbury, Connecticut.
O’Meara is a mother of four, including a dyslexic son which, according to O’Meara, “created a strong, personal passion for rigorous, science-based literacy supports for all children.” She lives in Hartford, Connecticut with her husband and two youngest children, still in high school, and is “happy to be back working in my home state.”
Last year, the Davis Foundation completed a strategic planning exercise. Early learning and education continue to be at the forefront of support. The Foundation’s Priority Areas are: Early Childhood Education (birth-5 years); Early Literacy (Grades K-3); Innovation & Excellence in Education (Grades K-16); and Economic Mobility. The Foundation also remains committed to general community support grants.
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