Washington, D.C. — Zoë Baird is joining the Center for American Progress as a senior fellow, where she will contribute to guide CAP’s work advancing career opportunities for the nation’s workforce and preserving scientific research in higher education. She will also work with CAP’s Democracy program on election integrity and its broader work to promote democracy.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Zoë to CAP,” said CAP president and CEO Neera Tanden. “Her insights will help shape our higher education and workforce policy agendas as well as democracy and so many other crucial issues for our country.”
Baird comes to CAP with a background in government, philanthropy, and the private sector. She previously served as senior counselor for technology to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in the Biden administration, where she led work on artificial intelligence internationally, advised on technology programs, and furthered employer-based training programs. She was also President Bill Clinton’s initial nominee for U.S. attorney general.
For more than two decades, Baird served as CEO and president of the Markle Foundation. There, she led Markle’s Rework America Alliance—a nationwide partnership to enable people to advance in quality jobs. At Markle, she also established a nonpartisan network of 30 governors that modernized the labor market at a scale and pace not thought possible through individual state actions.
Baird has held previous positions as senior vice president and general counsel at Aetna; as counselor and staff executive at General Electric; as partner at O’Melveny & Myers; and as a visiting scholar at Yale Law School.
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Mishka Espey at [email protected].