Chief Policy and Communications Officer

Max McConkey has served WestEd in a variety of leadership capacities since 1992. A member of the agency's executive staff, McConkey, who is based at our Tucson office, oversees all institutional policy and communications. He directs WestEd’s Communications Program and is the agency executive to whom WestEd's Policy Program reports. His other institutional responsibilities include serving as WestEd's Federal Liaison. Under McConkey's leadership, WestEd’s Communications Program in the past five years has received 42 national professional association awards for product excellence. The national policy work he has implemented over 35 years has had significant impact on federal legislation on education dissemination, research-and-development, and knowledge use. A former classroom teacher, journalist, lecturer, and syndicated cartoonist, McConkey, prior to joining Far West Laboratory/WestEd, was a 20-year employee of The NETWORK, Inc. He served as that agency's director for 16 years, 1976-92, leading dramatic growth of the organization’s staff, revenues, and reputation. He was a founder of the National Dissemination Association (NDA) in 1980 and served as the NDA's executive director for 15 years. Max is the 2008 Chair of the Board of Directors of Knowledge Alliance, the national trade association representing the education research, development, and service industry. He has been WestEd's representative on the Alliance's Board since 1999 and has been closely associated with the association since the late 1970s. McConkey served as vice president of the board of the national Education Writers Association, 1998-2002. He was the founder and inaugural chair for three years of the American Education Research Association's (AERA) membership Committee on Outreach and served as an invited member of AERA’s national strategic planning task force. McConkey was educated at the Pennsylvania State University, Antioch-Putney Graduate School of Education, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Massachusetts.


Tel: 520.888.2838
520.888.2621
Email: Max@WestEd.org

Mailing Address:
622 N. Country Club Rd., Suite E
Tucson, Arizona 85716-4537

Policy Briefs
Policymaker and Stakeholder Convenings
State and Regional Analyses