Lauren Damme, Ph.D.

Lauren K. Damme, Ph.D. serves as a Senior Fellow at the Data Foundation, supporting initiatives at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), evaluation and evidence-building. Dr. Damme is an internationally-recognized expert in evaluation, forced labor and human trafficking with over 20 years of experience in 30+ countries leading global research initiatives to advance evidence-building and human rights in government, think tanks, multilaterals and the private sector. In addition to her role at the Data Foundation, she is also an adjunct professor of program evaluation at George Washington University. 

Most recently, Dr. Damme served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), where she helped provide executive-level strategic planning and guidance supports for the DAS related to personnel, budget, Administration transitions, and office management for four department-level offices, including the Chief Evaluation Office, Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of Regulatory and Programmatic Policy, and Office of Compliance Initiatives. 

Previously, Dr. Damme served as the Director of Research for DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), where she steered evaluation services and capacity building to support DOL’s 17 agencies overseeing $14 billion in taxpayer funds, oversaw procurement and contracting, overhauled CEO’s public and internal communications, and helped lead the office through a major period of staff, project, responsibility and budget growth. In her role with CEO, she also guided DOL’s implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and worked across federal government to improve evaluation practices, including through serving on the OMB-led Evaluation Officer Council of 24 federal agencies. Her transformational leadership led to DOL’s recognition by the White House and her receipt of the Secretary’s Distinguished Career Service Award.

Dr. Damme also led DOL’s international impact evaluation and prevalence survey portfolios in the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking, where she spent years negotiating bilateral agreements for research and piloting surveys in rural areas. Her research portfolio of 40+ studies on social services, workforce and education programs led to national-level policy changes, improving the lives of millions of children and families around the world.

In addition to her 14 years of federal public service, Dr. Damme has led evaluation, labor and human rights research in Geneva, London, New York, Tokyo and D.C. on behalf of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the International Labour Organization, the Freedom Fund, Demos, New America, and the Local Government Information Unit. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Program Evaluation from George Washington University, an M.Sc. in international Development Management from the London School of Economics, a B.Sc. in Business/Survey methods research from Iowa State University, and an array of Generative AI-related certifications.