Christina Yancey

Christina Yancey is vice president in the area of employment and economic opportunity. A nationally recognized workforce policy and program evaluation expert, Dr. Yancey champions the use of rigorous mixed methods to build and apply new knowledge. She has extensive expertise building institutional capacity for data use, while promoting innovation, equity, and continuous growth throughout the research process. She is especially dedicated to using advanced research methods and evaluation tools to fully harness the power of objective data and information to improve quality of life for all people and communities.

Dr. Yancey oversees AIR’s growing portfolio of workforce-related research and technical assistance projects, which span the whole workforce cycle, from education, training, and apprenticeships to workforce development and human capital management. In this role, she guides strategic planning, business development, quality assurance, and external eminence building in service of strengthening connections across research, policy, and practice.

Prior to joining AIR in 2023, Dr. Yancey was chief evaluation officer at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) where she led public workforce development evaluation initiatives and advanced the agency’s equity-driven learning agenda. Prior to her role as CEO, she spent five years as a senior leader with DOL’s Evaluation Office where she gained substantial expertise in areas such as methods innovation, practitioner engagement, and data-driven decision making.

From 2010-2014, Dr. Yancey worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, where she conducted strategic planning activities for the agency. She was also a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence-Building from 2020 to 2022, and she was awarded the distinguished federal evaluation officer award by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in 2021.