NEW YORK – The Coleridge Initiative, Inc. announced that Nicole Ifill was elected to the Coleridge Initiative Board of Directors. Ifill complements the composition of the board with her wealth of expertise and knowledge in strengthening data infrastructures by improving the availability, quality, and use of data. 

"I am thrilled to welcome Nicole Ifill to the Coleridge Initiative Board of Directors," said Dr. Michael Holland, Chair of the Coleridge Initiative Board of Directors. "Her wealth of expertise and experience ensuring data quality, availability, and use will undoubtedly strengthen the Coleridge mission." 

“I am very excited to have Nicole join the Coleridge Board of Directors,” said Dr. Ahu Yildirmaz, President and CEO of the Coleridge Initiative. “She has been a long standing supporter of our mission and has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to building and strengthening a secure data infrastructure that can be used to support evidence-based decision-making.”

Nicole Ifill is a Deputy Director on the U.S. Program Data strategy team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she works to strengthen data infrastructure by improving the availability, quality, and use of data that connects educational attainment to workforce outcomes. She also oversees the team’s measurement, learning, and evaluation efforts. This work helps ensure that institutions, policymakers, and researchers have the information they need for data-driven decision-making and that learners can make informed decisions about their career paths.

Nicole has devoted her career to addressing barriers to postsecondary education and issues surrounding persistence and attainment, especially for learners from low-income backgrounds. Before joining the foundation in 2017, she managed several data analysis projects at RTI International, including as analytic director of the 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study and as project director of the annual data update of College Results Online, a web tool developed by the Education Trust that provides detailed institution-level data on student graduation rates and labor market outcomes to multiple stakeholders.

Nicole has a master’s degree in statistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a bachelor’s degree in political science-statistics from Columbia University.

About The Coleridge Initiative, Inc.

The Coleridge Initiative is a nonprofit organization working with governments to ensure that data are more effectively used for public decision-making. Coleridge provides agencies with the opportunity to enhance their workforce data literacy and collaborate within and across states to develop new technologies through the secure access and sharing of confidential microdata. Coleridge’s secure data hosting platform, the Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF), is a FedRAMP-authorized environment that enables government agencies to link their longitudinal data with other states and agencies. Learn more: www.coleridgeinitiative.org

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