C. Nicole Mason

C. Nicole Mason, PhD is the former President and CEO of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Before that, Dr Mason was the Executive Director of the Center for Research and Policy in the Public Interest (CR2PI) and an Ascend Fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC. For the last 20 years, Nicole’s work has focused on issues related economic security and poverty; women’s issues and entitlement reforms; policy formation and political participation among women, communities of color and youth; and racial equity. Her writing and commentary has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the Huffington Post, Essence Magazine, POLITICO, RealClear Politics, the Wall Street Journal, the Nation, the Progressive, among other media outlets.

A highly sought-after speaker, Nicole has spoken nationally on economic security and poverty; Intersectionality and racial equity; American politics and policy; voting patterns of Women, Youth and African-Americans; and immigration, leadership development. She has also appeared as guest speaker at the Congressional Black Caucus, the Center for American Progress, the Essence Musical Festival Empowerment Series in New Orleans and on college campuses across the country campuses including Vassar, Vanderbilt University, USC, NYU, Howard University, Bennett College, and at conferences focusing on topics of race, class, gender, and politics.

Nicole is the most recent Executive Director of the Women of Color Policy Network at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public service, the nation’s only research and policy center focused on women of color at a nationally ranked school of public administration. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the National Council for Research on Women and a member of the Ms. Magazine Committee of Scholars.