Eight new experts will join GCPI to generate transformative policy solutions with a tangible impact.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality (GCPI) welcomes a new Faculty Advisor and seven new staff and fellows. As rising costs, stagnant wages, and policy rollbacks deepen inequality across the country, GCPI is growing to meet the moment. The new experts will sharpen GCPI’s ability to deliver bold, evidence-based solutions that strengthen economic well-being and advance racial and gender equity.
Professor Sheryll Cashin will serve as Faculty Advisor, joining GCPI founder and longtime faculty director Peter Edelman to guide and support the center’s mission. Liz Hipple will serve as Managing Director of Policy and Research, driving GCPI’s efforts to defend what matters, deliver real solutions, and build the case for policies that help families thrive. Stephanie Scott will serve as Senior Policy Analyst, grounding GCPI’s policy development in careful, robust research across traditional policy silos. She will work alongside another recent addition, Senior Policy Analyst Shamaal Sheppard.
Andrés Arguello, Alice Lin, and Zach McRae, who served in the Biden-Harris Administration, will join GCPI as Visiting Fellows. Madeline Neighly will serve as an Affiliate Fellow and Jae June Lee as an Affiliate Scholar. They will join GCPI staff and leading poverty scholar Danilo Trisi, leveraging their deep policy expertise in pursuit of bold, actionable change—partnering with mission-aligned organizations and policymakers to turn ideas into impact.
“I’m thrilled to welcome top-tier talent to our team at such a critical time,” said Lelaine Bigelow, Executive Director of GCPI. “Everyone should be able to meet their basic needs, care for their families, and live with dignity—no matter their race, gender, or zip code. The moment we’re in calls for urgency, imagination, and bold solutions. As federal and state-level debates put basic needs at risk, and economic mobility remains out of reach for many, our new leadership, staff, and fellows will ensure policymakers have access to policy ideas shaped by rigorous research and real-world insights.”
Professor Sheryll Cashin is an author and the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice at Georgetown University. She has written several books on race and class segregation and has deep expertise in fair housing policy, community development, and constitutional and civil rights law. She is a contributing writer for Politico Magazine and her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Salon. She previously served as Director of Community Development in the Clinton White House and law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
“In a time of assault on policies designed to reduce poverty and its indignities, I am proud to join GCPI in this necessary work,” said Professor Cashin.
GCPI’s new Managing Director of Policy and Research, Liz Hipple, most recently served as Chief of Staff for the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor. She previously oversaw implementation of the $350 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program as Senior Advisor for the Office of Capital Access in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She previously worked on labor and family economic security and mobility policies at the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and in Treasury’s Office of Financial Institutions Policy.
“I’m honored to join GCPI at a time when the stakes for economic security and equity are so high,” said Hipple. “Throughout my time in public service—from working on retirement security at the Treasury Department during the Obama Administration to overseeing the implementation of the American Rescue Plan at Treasury more recently—I’ve seen how policy decisions can either open doors or widen disparities. I’m excited to help lead research and policy efforts that center the needs of working families, challenge structural inequities, and offer bold, evidence-based solutions for a more just economy.”
GCPI’s new Fellows will contribute sharp analysis and actionable ideas to advance economic well-being through the tax code, promote whole-family approaches to public benefits, increase access to care, and elevate housing as a public good. Their work will inform policy debates, support the design of more equitable systems, and bring fresh perspectives into the national conversation on poverty and economic, racial, and gender justice.
Andrés Arguello was most recently Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He also served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of HHS on child and family policy. He previously worked for the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, on Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign, and at the White House Council on Economic Advisors during the Obama administration. Arguello’s work will focus on protecting and strengthening public benefits programs, including accessible and inclusive digital benefits systems.
Alice Lin is a tax policy expert who was most recently Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs (Tax & Budget) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She previously worked on tax and budget policy for the Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. Lin worked on major legislation including bipartisan COVID relief, tax extenders, and expansions to the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan Act. Lin’s work will focus on tax policies that reduce child poverty and support families.
Zach McRae most recently served as a Policy Advisor in the Office of Policy Development and Research and the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Zach drove HUD’s efforts to improve and streamline its rental assistance programs, increase the production and preservation of affordable housing, and support tenants and landlords participating in HUD programs. McRae’s work will focus on investments in housing as a public good connected to job quality, cash supports, and community power.
Madeline Neighly is an expert on guaranteed income and Senior Strategist and Researcher at the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. She recently served as Stakeholder Engagement Advisor to the Resilient Families Hub, an interagency project housed in the Administration for Families and Children at HHS. Neighly’s work as an Affiliate Fellow will focus on direct cash transfers that help families meet their basic needs and promote economic mobility.
Jae June Lee is a PhD student in Cornell University whose research explores how emerging technologies shape the governance of statistical and data systems in the digital age. He rejoins GCPI as an Affiliate Scholar to advise on technology, government modernization and digitization efforts, and privacy and confidentiality.
Email Jocelyne Quintero at jq147@georgetown.edu to speak with a GCPI expert.