Lorelei Atalie Vargas ’94 , executive vice president and chief operating officer of AHRC New York and member of Bryn Mawr College’s Board of Trustees, is beginning her tenure as a Scholar in Residence at Bryn Mawr’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research with a Zoom webinar at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4.
The webinar will feature a conversation between Vargas ’94, and Kelsey Louie, chief executive officer of The Door & Broome Street Academy in New York City. They will explore how to stay grounded in social work’s core ethics and values during this historic period of upheaval, highlighting the power of community partnerships to build a sustainable social work future. “Lorelei brings a rare blend of practice-based wisdom and policy acumen, inspiring the next generation of women leaders and social workers to design systems that honor the resilience, leadership, and power of families and communities,” says GSSWSR Dean Janet Shapiro.
Vargas is a nationally recognized leader and scholar-practitioner whose work bridges policy, practice, and community innovation to advance the well-being of children, families, and communities. With a career spanning the nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors, she brings to her role as Scholar in Residence a systems-level perspective on equity, social policy, and transformative leadership, particularly in contexts that center women, caregivers, and families.
Register Now!
Imagining Sustainable Futures
in Social Work
Wednesday, March 4, 7 p.m.
A mission-driven changemaker, Varga previously served as chief community impact officer at Trinity Church Wall Street, where she launched and led a pioneering, place-based initiative in Lower Manhattan. While there, she advanced sustainable solutions that addressed both urgent needs and the structural inequities that shape them, reflecting her deep commitment to justice, inclusion, and long-term community transformation.
Prior to her work in philanthropy, Vargas held several senior leadership roles in New York City government, where she was instrumental in reimagining how public systems can better support families. As deputy commissioner for child and family wellbeing at the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, she designed and led the first child welfare division in the nation grounded in a two-generation strategy, an approach that simultaneously supports children and their caregivers. Her leadership strengthened family support networks, redirected public resources toward community-based programs, and embedded families' lived experiences into policy design and implementation.
Earlier, as deputy commissioner of early care and education, Vargas oversaw the country’s largest publicly funded childcare system, serving more than 100,000 children each year with an annual budget exceeding $1 billion. Under her direction, the system expanded equitable access to high-quality care, introduced trauma-informed practices citywide, and developed innovative cross-sector partnerships that promoted holistic family well-being.
Vargas’ professional foundation was built in the nonprofit sector, where she spent more than a decade helping to grow and globalize an organization dedicated to trauma-informed care and child development. There, she led the implementation of a trauma-informed organizational model across over 300 child-serving institutions worldwide, while expanding programs in mental health and early childhood education.
Vargas holds two master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, one in public policy, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and the other in education administration and policy. Recognized for her visionary leadership, she is both a Pahara Fellow and an Ascend Fellow of the Aspen Institute and remains active in the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Former Congresswoman Allyson Y. Schwartz, M.S.S. '72, served as the first alumna scholar-in-residence at the GSSWSR.
