Gopika Mavalankar is a senior manager on the Strategic Engagements team at JFF. Her work includes spearheading cross-organizational initiatives at national convenings like ASU-GSV and Horizons. She also leads initiatives for JFF’s Policy & Advocacy team, specifically with the White House and federal agencies.

Her skills and areas of expertise include:

• Messaging
• Demand-based solutions to underemployment
• Financial literacy models
• Future of work policies
• Higher education

Before joining JFF, Mavalankar was communications manager in California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, where she managed press responses, scripts, and talking points. During the pandemic, she coordinated merging policy and messaging on the governor’s leadership of school vaccination and reopening efforts.

Educational background:

• Bachelor’s degree in international relations, University of California at Davis.
• Master’s degree in education policy and management, Harvard Graduate School of Education