The Annie E. Casey Foundation Names Stephen Plank Vice President of Research, Evaluation, Evidence and Data

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has named Stephen Plank its new vice pres­i­dent of Research, Eval­u­a­tion, Evi­dence and Data (REED). The appoint­ment is effec­tive June 1.

Plank is new to the Foun­da­tion, arriv­ing from the Amer­i­can Insti­tutes for Research (AIR), where he was a man­ag­ing researcher begin­ning in 2015. Pri­or to AIR, he was direc­tor of research and eval­u­a­tion at the Cor­po­ra­tion for Nation­al and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice, the fed­er­al agency that admin­is­ters Ameri­Corps, Senior Corps and the Social Inno­va­tion Fund.

Before his time in Wash­ing­ton, Plank spent near­ly two decades in Bal­ti­more at Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty, serv­ing as a fac­ul­ty mem­ber, a research sci­en­tist and the research co-direc­tor and founder of the Bal­ti­more Edu­ca­tion Research Con­sor­tium. His affil­i­a­tions at Hop­kins includ­ed the Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion-fund­ed STEM Achieve­ment in Bal­ti­more Ele­men­tary Schools program.

“Steve is a tal­ent­ed leader, a skilled col­lab­o­ra­tor and a sea­soned researcher who brings aca­d­e­m­ic and non­prof­it expe­ri­ence,” said Foun­da­tion Pres­i­dent and CEO Lisa Hamil­ton. ​“He also has strong ties to our home­town of Bal­ti­more. As a Foun­da­tion that seeks data-informed, evi­dence-based solu­tions for child well-being, we are delight­ed that he will be guid­ing our research and eval­u­a­tion agenda.”

“I am thrilled to be join­ing Casey and its mis­sion. I strive to be a data part­ner to change agents, and as I hear about the tal­ent­ed mem­bers of REED, I feel sure that’s what we all will con­tin­ue to be,” Plank said. ​“We will focus on all forms of eval­u­a­tion — from for­ma­tive to impact — as well as descrip­tive research, evi­dence bases and data tools to help cre­ate strong and equi­table futures for youth, fam­i­lies and communities.”

Plank holds a bachelor’s degree in math­e­mat­i­cal meth­ods in the social sci­ences and soci­ol­o­gy from North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty and master’s and doc­tor­al degrees in soci­ol­o­gy from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chicago.

Plank suc­ceeds Cyn­thia (Cindy) Guy, who retired after near­ly three decades with the Foundation.