Dr. Monique Miles is an executive leader and systems-change strategist who serves as Vice President of the Aspen Institute, Director of the Opportunity Youth Forum, and Managing Director of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. In these roles, she provides strategic vision and direction for the Forum’s work to advance equitable opportunity, strengthen communities, and catalyze systems change. She co-leads organizational strategy and oversees its execution, with responsibility for institutional effectiveness, organizational culture, strategic partnerships, impact, and learning.
Under her leadership, the Opportunity Youth Forum has grown from 21 communities to a national network of more than 40 urban, rural, and Indigenous place-based partnerships, while extending its influence and reach globally. She has led fundraising efforts and overseen the regranting of more than $50 million to communities across the United States, mobilizing philanthropic resources to strengthen local leadership, accelerate innovation, and advance community-driven systems change. Her intellectual and strategic contributions to the field center on the intersection of narrative power, healing-centered leadership, and systems transformation, with a particular emphasis on how shifting power, cultivating belonging, and strengthening community agency can create the conditions for lasting social change.
Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, Dr. Miles served as Director of Postsecondary Achievement at the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), where she led the Postsecondary Success Initiative, a national demonstration initiative supporting community-based organizations in developing and implementing postsecondary education pathways in partnership with institutions of higher education. Her work focused on expanding educational access and opportunity for young people disconnected from traditional education systems.
Dr. Miles began her career as a Literacy Instructor at Youth Opportunity Boston, where she designed and delivered education and career development programming for young people involved with the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. She subsequently advanced this work through policy and advocacy initiatives at the Commonwealth Corporation, deepening her commitment to transforming the institutions and systems that influence young people’s educational and economic trajectories.
Dr. Miles holds a Bachelor of Science from Springfield College, a Master of Education in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) from Harvard University. She serves on the boards of trustees of Pomfret School, Independent Trust, and Jeremiah Program.