Mary Gardner Clagett is Senior Director for National Workforce Policy at Jobs for the Future. She leads the development and implementation of JFF’s federal workforce policy agenda with particular focus on the intersection of postsecondary and adult education, workforce development, and poverty alleviation programs. She and the policy team at JFF work to identify best and promising practices, particularly for meeting the education, training, and employment needs of underprepared students, jobseekers and workers — translating practice into policy.

Ms. Clagett has also worked extensively on the development of federal policy related to the development of career pathways systems and strategies. Working closely with the federal Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, she contributed to development of the Departments’ joint framework for Career Pathways systems, tools, publications, technical assistance strategies, and convenings on this topic, including work directing a contract for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE).

Prior to her current job, Ms. Clagett spent more than 20 years working for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on workforce development and related issues. She was the lead staff on development of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the National School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and numerous other education and workforce focused measures while working for the majority on the House Education and Workforce Committee.