Megan McCafferty leads the Insights efforts of the North America team at the Gates Foundation, advising the foundation on political and cultural trends in the United States and Canada. In this role, she uses data analytics to help define the shifting political and policymaking atmosphere, to monitor the media ecosystem, and to analyze the impact the political and media environments are having on American mindsets, behaviors, and opinions. This work informs the foundation’s strategic direction, external engagements, communication efforts, and state and federal government relations activities in the U.S. necessary to advance the foundation’s international and domestic goals.
Prior to joining the foundation, Megan worked across a number of political and policymaking positions, including serving in the offices of U.S. Senators John Kerry and Blanche Lincoln and managing field work for President Obama’s re-election campaign in rural Appalachia.
Megan holds a B.A. from the Catholic University of America, where she studied Political Theory and the ways in which both longstanding and modernized cultural and religious identities affect political ideology across the globe. She hails from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and she is currently on the Board of the Arkansas State Society. Megan spends her free time supporting N Street Village,
attending concerts in Washington, DC, and taking her bulldog on short adventures in her neighborhood.