Hedy Nai-Lin Chang

Hedy Nai-Lin Chang is the founder and chief executive officer of Attendance Works, a national and state initiative aimed at advancing student success by addressing chronic absence. She co-authored the seminal report "Present, Engaged and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades," as well as numerous other articles about student attendance. Deeply committed to promoting two-generation solutions to achieving a more just and equitable society, Chang has spent more than two decades working in the fields of family support, family economic success, education, and child development. She served as a senior program officer at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and as co-director of California Tomorrow. In 2024, she was named as the Policy Leader of the Year by the National Association of State Boards of Education. Chang received her MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School.

updated 2026