As Director of Evaluation and Impact, Yana Kusayeva leads evaluation strategy, data infrastructure, and research partnerships. Her work builds JVS's internal capacity to use evaluation while bringing evidence-based, participant-centered practices into its programs. She also works with the executive team on impact measurement across the organization and helps build JVS's learning agenda, continuing to guide its evolution toward a more data-driven culture. She is focused on making evaluation and data practical and accessible for program staff, so that evidence shapes decisions at every level of the organization.

Yana comes to JVS after more than 8 years at MDRC, a national social policy research organization, where she worked on a variety of program evaluations as a researcher, manager, or technical assistance provider. During her tenure there, she was also a manager in the Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Inclusion. Yana holds an MPA in public and nonprofit policy and management from New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, an advanced certificate in Globalization and International Affairs from Bard College, and a B.A. in International Studies from Adelphi University's Honors College.