Molly Irwin, Ph.D.

Molly Irwin develops strategies and plans for growth for Abt’s Human Services Portfolio and associated client accounts such as workforce and disability and children, youth, and families. 

Molly has more than 25 years of experience leading large-scale research and evaluation efforts and working with policy makers, researchers, and practitioners to build and use evidence. Molly has worked to improve public programs and policy outcomes in workforce development, child and family well-being, public health, and conservation, most recently as the Pew Charitable Trusts’ vice president of research and science. She spent over 10 years in the federal government in the Department of Labor (DOL), where she served as the chief evaluation officer, and in the Administration for Children and Families. 

Molly has also led research projects and initiatives in local and state government, the private sector, and academia. As the director of the child policy initiative at the Schubert Center for Child Studies at CWRU, she connected academic research with local policy initiatives and taught research and policy classes. She has also held leadership positions in public health and social policy in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and the state of South Carolina. 

Molly has a Ph.D. in social welfare from Case Western Reserve University, a master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a B.A. in economics from Ohio Wesleyan University.