Mary Gardner Clagett

Director, Workforce Policy

Contact Mary Gardner Clagett

Mary Gardner Clagett is director of workforce policy, for the Workforce and Education Policy Group at JFF. Ms. Clagett works with workforce policy leaders and practitioners from around the country to shape effective policy recommendations to meet the skills needs of America’s workers and the U.S. economy.  She and her team work to identify best and promising practices particularly for meeting the education, training, and placement needs of low-skilled workers— translating practice into policy.

Ms. Clagett has more than 25 years of experience working with the U.S. Congress in the fields of education, workforce development, and human services policy. Before joining JFF, Ms. Clagett served in a similar capacity for the National Center on Education and the Economy, and before that served as the lead staff for Republicans on the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, responsible for workforce development and career preparation legislation, including the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the National School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and numerous other measures related to the workforce, education, and human services. She has also served in the U.S. Senate on the Labor and Human Resources Committee for West Virginia Senator Jennings Randolph.

Ms. Clagett earned her undergraduate degree from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and carried out her graduate work at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.