Sara Stefanik

Sara Stefanik is the Director of the Center for Evidence Capacity at the Data Foundation. Sara holds a Master's degree in Public Policy with a focus on education from the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. She brings over 14 years of experience working with data, evaluations, and evidence building to her role at the Data Foundation.

She spent the majority of her career within the federal statistical system, working on surveys, administrative data modeling, data governance, data analysis, and open data initiatives at the U.S. Census Bureau and in the Office of the Chief Data Officer at the Department of Education. She also served as a policy and research analyst on the Commission for Evidence-Based Policymaking. Most recently, Sara served as the Director of Research and Evaluation at Pittsburgh Public Schools, managing internal and external evaluation activities of school programs and initiatives.

A strong believer in the power of data and evidence to improve societal outcomes, Sara is passionate about public education and giving back to her community. She currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her data heroes are the trailblazing women in math, science, and data that paved the way for today’s generation of women in data, such as Katherine Johnson and Elizabeth Feinler.