With 120+ Evaluators and growing in the Network, we are highlighting an ACE Evaluation Network Member each month to share their experiences and current projects with the ETB® community.

Advancing Culturally-responsive and Equitable (ACE) Evaluation Network Member Elena Pinzon O’Quinn, MPH, is a program strategy and evaluation leader focused on advancing equity through data, learning and participant voice. She serves as national senior director of learning and evaluation at LIFT Inc., where she partners with families, staff and collaborators to design evaluation frameworks that strengthen services and inform policy. She previously led evaluation at the Latin American Youth Center and serves on the board of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society.

Hello Expanding the Bench® (ETB) community! I’m Elena Pinzon O’Quinn, MPH, a learning and evaluation leader working at the intersection of nonprofits and public systems. I currently serve as national senior director of learning and evaluation at LIFT Inc., where I partner with families, staff and cross-sector collaborators to carry out evaluation strategies that center participant voice and advance family economic mobility. My work focuses on making data genuinely useful and accessible — helping teams strengthen services, inform policy and share what works to improve family well-being.

Across my career, I’ve been especially committed to culturally responsive and equitable evaluation and to shifting power toward communities. I previously led evaluation at the Latin American Youth Center, a youth development organization, and continue to consult with nonprofits to build practical evaluation capacity that lasts beyond a single project. My public health background shapes how I approach evaluation, with an emphasis on systems thinking, community voice and the conditions that support long-term well-being. I also serve on the board of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society.

I’m thrilled to be part of the ACE Evaluation Network because of its commitment to expanding who gets to lead and shape evaluation. ACE’s focus on connecting racially and ethnically diverse evaluators and advancing the practice of culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE) feels deeply aligned with my values and the work I do every day. I’m excited to be in community with others who are pushing our field forward.

I look forward to learning from this network, sharing what I’m seeing in the nonprofit sector and family economic mobility work, and collaborating with others who are using evaluation as a tool for systems change. Grateful to be here!

To learn more about Elena, view her Evaluator Database profile.