Emily Bolton serves as the Alliance’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff. In her dual roles at the Alliance, she manages the overall business support functions and staff, finance, governance, risk and compliance, and vendors. She also acts as a thought partner with President France Córdova and the Alliance leadership team on the organization’s business plan and key performance indicators, policy, infrastructure, and strategy.

Emily spent most of her early career working for Paul A. Volcker, former Federal Reserve Board chairman. She initially served as his special assistant on the independent investigation he led into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme and on the independent panel he chaired to review the World Bank department that investigates fraud and corruption in Bank projects. In 2013, as Chief of Staff, she helped to launch the Volcker Alliance, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing his vision of an empowered public sector workforce. She played an instrumental role in developing the organization’s strategy, operations, and programs, and served as the Executive Vice President from January 2022 through February 2024.

Emily was also the founding Director of a national program to respond to foreclosure in low-income neighborhoods at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a community development financial institution that has invested over $29 billion in communities around the country. Among other positions, she also worked for the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative in Africa and for a public defender in Harlem.  

She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts from Harvard University and holds a master of business administration from the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. She serves on the national executive board of Every Vote Counts.