Davis Foundation Names Kiley O’Meara New Executive Director

Kiley O’Meara

SPRINGFIELD — The directors of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation announced that Kiley O’Meara has been named the new executive director of the foundation. She 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.

She 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.

“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,” O’Meara said. “I have deep respect for all those in this region doing important, challenging work every day to improve the lives of children and families.”

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’s degree from Middlebury College. In the community, she serves in leadership roles at Choate Rosemary Hall’s parent association and the Harvard Alumnae Assoc., and also volunteers at Healing Meals in Simsbury, Conn.

“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 on board last year,” said Laurel Ferretti, Davis Foundation director. “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.”