Marc Dones

Marc Dones is a social entrepreneur, policy strategist and social justice activist with 10+ years of experience in equitable systems transformation across local, state, and federal governmental systems. As the Executive Director of the National Innovation Service (NIS), Marc oversees day-to-day operations and strategy for policy, design, operations & business development work streams (1M+/year). NIS partners with government agencies, for profit organizations and nonprofits to propel equity work across the policy space. They focus on: homelessness & housing; racial equity; LGBTQ+ rights; violence prevention & justice system reform, as well as community-based responses to substance use disorders. Most recently, NIS was charged with the design/stand-up of the new regional authority overseeing homelessness response in King County, WA, which includes the City of Seattle. Their team is known for making equity work actionable and holding partners accountable to bold outcomes. Prior to launching NIS, Marc held various roles in social impact, specializing in policy, program design, continuous improvement. This includes leadership roles at The Future Company and Center for Social Innovation (C4). At C4, they lead the SPARC (Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities) Initiative, engaging 8+ jurisdictions, 20+ agencies, and the US government in efforts to transform the national conversation about housing. They also served in various roles at the state-level. This included working on the design & implementation of Gov. Patrick’s $10M/yr youth violence reduction program in 11 cities. Outside of direct systems transformation, Marc is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) and leverages their experience as a keynote & panelist. They have spoken at The White House & Harvard University. Marc holds a BA from NYU in Psychiatric Anthropology and is a highly-qualified equity trainer. They are currently based in the Greater New York City area.