Kelsey Coates is the Foundation’s director of program management and strategic initiatives. Previously, she served as chief of staff of the National Endowment for the Humanities, overseeing agency-wide strategy, operations, and a national grantmaking portfolio supporting cultural, educational, and civic institutions across all 56 states and jurisdictions. At NEH, she made strengthening American democracy a central grantmaking priority and launched strategic initiatives advancing equity, civic engagement, social cohesion, cultural resilience in the Pacific Islands, and research into the societal implications of artificial intelligence. She also established NEH’s first offices of data and evaluation, outreach, and Native and Indigenous affairs.
Kelsey founded Gradient Strategies, a strategic advisory practice serving mission-driven organizations. She has launched multiple democracy initiatives, co-founded an arts education organization in Hyderabad, India, and held roles in the Obama White House and two presidential transitions. She earned a BA in international affairs from the University of Mary Washington and a graduate certificate in social entrepreneurship from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
