Grace May

Grace May is Executive Director of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, where she oversees strategic planning, coordinates the release of policy proposals and papers, and manages center operations.

Grace has years of government, non-profit, policy, and political experience. Most recently, she served as Senior Advisor for strategic planning and change management at the Airbel Impact Lab - the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) research and innovation department. She also served in the Biden Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as an Advisor to the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and a Policy Advisor to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Previously, Grace served as Policy Director for then-city-councilor (now Boston Mayor) Michelle Wu; as an aide to Senator Elizabeth Warren in the U.S. Senate; and as chief of staff for policy on Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign.

Grace was born and raised in East Tennessee. She is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a graduate of Georgetown University.