Michael Myers is The Rockefeller Foundation’s Managing Director for Policy, leading the organization’s policy work to advance key priorities such as healthy food and economic opportunity. Based in Washington, D.C., his work is focused primarily on the United States.
Mr. Myers joined the Foundation in 2010 and led the organization’s successful Centennial program, which launched future priorities including the 100 Resilient Cities program, an initiative to reduce food waste and improving health by addressing environmental factors. From 2013 to 2017, he led the Foundation’s global health work including an international campaign for universal health coverage.
Previously, Myers served in leadership capacities in the United States Senate, including as Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, covering a range of issues such as health care, employment, economic development, refugees, immigration, and education. Myers’ previous work was on refugee and international humanitarian matters for non-governmental organizations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Mr. Myers holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in political science from Columbia University.
Authored Content
Apr 23 2019
Blog Post Shaping Support for America's Struggling Regions Shortly after the 2016 U.S. election, I joined a deep discussion examining its surprising results. Around the table were experts on so-called Trump voters along with people engaged with many other communities that make up the United States. One thing they had in common was the feeling that their communities were struggling and had been […] John MyersFeb 27 2019
Blog Post 5 Takeaways from the National Governors’ Association’s Annual Meeting I enjoyed a front row seat at the 111th Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, DC. The event brought together dozens of governors from U.S. states and attracted nearly 2,000 attendees with backgrounds in finance, criminal justice, technology, energy, health, trade and more. Over the years, the NGA meeting has evolved beyond […] John MyersJun 22 2018
Blog Post Empowering Local Innovation: The Seeds of Economic Transformation Even as the U.S. economy enjoys one of the longest expansions on record, millions of Americans remain economically vulnerable—one crisis away from economic calamity, unable to access opportunity, and with limited mobility. These challenges are usually approached as national phenomena. We talk about wage growth at the national level and the unemployment rate for the […] Alyson Wise, John Myers, Sandy Davis, Tim ShawSep 20 2017
Blog Post Our People, Our Planet, Our Prosperity After a summer of wildfires in Southern Europe and the Western United States, we now watch floodwaters in Texas and India recede and powerful winds in the Caribbean and Southeastern United States die down. As the 72nd UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC convene, we can’t help but reflect on the timeliness and poignancy […] Doaa Abdel-Motaal, John MyersMay 31 2017
Blog Post An Inflection Point for Universal Health Coverage Last week was the World Health Assembly, an annual gathering where the world’s health leaders take stock of progress to improve health and wellbeing, and set the global health agenda for the year ahead. This year’s assembly was particularly newsworthy because it included the election of a new Director-General to lead the World Health Organization—more […] John Myers