RSSLindsay Coates (Washington)
Ms. Lindsay Coates serves as Executive Vice President for InterAction and has recently led the coalition’s work on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in advance of the 2010 UN MDG Summit. She also heads the Policy and Communications Team, which shapes and oversees InterAction’s outreach to different constituencies; guides communications efforts and strategy; and ensures that public policy, advocacy, public relations, media and member engagement efforts are aligned to leverage the goals of InterAction and the community of 192 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that it represents. From 2004-2008, Ms. Coates was the COO at Population Action International, where she was responsible for the day-to-day management of the research advocacy institute. Prior to her work in the NGO world, Ms. Coates practiced civil rights law in various capacities. Among them were her positions as Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, where she oversaw day-to-day management of the 700 employee agency; and Equal Employment Opportunity Attorney and Officer at the National Gallery of Art.
Ms. Coates’ volunteer service has included the Obama administration’s Task Force on Global Poverty—run by the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships—and the Public Policy Committee of the Independent Sector. She was a Trustee for the Diocese of Mississippi at Sewanee, the University of the South, from 1994-2000, during which time she was the Trustee’s Chair of Constitution Committee and led a rewrite of the by-laws and governing documents. She was a Board Member for the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, which provides legal services to low income citizens, from 1988-1999. She was a co-chair of the Sewanee class of 1981 20th reunion, which won Hall Trophy for most improved class fundraising. She also served on the vestry of Chapel of the Cross in Madison, Mississippi, from 1991-1997.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, Ms. Coates was a nonresident Fellow of Seminar XXI, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies, studying Foreign Politics, International Relations and the National Interest. She completed the Graduate Executive Leadership Development Program of Columbia University, holds a J.D. from The University of Mississippi School of Law, with Honors, and a BA in Political Science with a focus on International Relations from Sewanee.
Ms. Coates attends St. John’s Church Lafayette Square, Washington, DC.
