Rebecca D. Vallas
Chief Executive Officer
Rebecca Vallas is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Rebecca brings two decades of experience shaping economic policy and social insurance, with a career that spans federal and state policy, legal advocacy, and narrative strategy. Most recently, she was a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where she founded the organization’s disability economic justice work, and launched a national bipartisan campaign to modernize SSI’s outdated asset limits.
A former legal aid attorney and one of the founding architects of the Clean Slate criminal record-clearing model—now law in over a dozen states—Rebecca has testified before Congress numerous times and her work has been featured by a wide array of outlets including The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and CNN. She also previously held leadership roles at the Center for American Progress, where she oversaw the organization’s antipoverty work and originated its disability work, and the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives.
Formerly the host and creator of the Off-Kilter podcast, Rebecca is excited to be developing It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way, a forthcoming podcast exploring how we reimagine broken systems to better serve people and communities—featuring conversations with changemakers at the frontlines of policy and social change. In her personal practice, she is a trained astrologer, energy healer, and spiritual coach. When she isn’t in Washington, D.C., she spends her time on a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and four rescue cats.
Ariella Jailal
Director of Leadership Development and Events
Ariella Jailal is the Manager of Leadership Development and Events at the National Academy of Social Insurance with a primary focus on the year-round leadership development programs. With a strong events background, she leads the marketing, recruitment, and onboarding processes for the summer internship program and handles the planning for the awarding of the annual John Heinz Dissertation Award, the Robert M. Ball Award, annual membership renewal campaign, and other events. Ariella moved to DC from New York, where she was the catering and special events manager for an alternative-energy mobile restaurant. Before that she enjoyed four years as a preschool teacher, helping to shape the next generation to love books, nature, music, and all things crafty. Ariella received her B.A. in English, Creative Writing with a minor in sociology from Hunter College in Manhattan. When she moved to DC, Jailal sought a nonprofit that works to address hunger and economic insecurity in her community and is eager to contribute to the policy landscape through the Academy. Ariella is happiest roaming barefoot in the Australian Daintree Rainforest and dreams of returning one day but equally enjoys weekends with her niece and nephew!
Dora Mendelson
Chief of Staff
Dora Mendelson serves as Chief of Staff at the National Academy of Social Insurance, where she partners with the CEO across all facets of the organization’s work to advance its mission and deepen its impact. She is deeply committed to disability justice as a framework for advancing equitable public policy — spanning health, economic security, and social insurance — a belief rooted in her own experience living with chronic illness and one that ultimately led her to the Academy’s work.
Dora holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University and a Master of Arts with a concentration in Critical Disability Studies from McMaster University, both summa cum laude. Her master’s thesis examined the embeddedness of diabetes stigma in American public policy.
Prior to joining the Academy, Dora gained experience on Capitol Hill as an intern in the Disability Policy Office of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
A Washington, DC native, Dora is an avid home baker and cook, and an enthusiastic explorer of the city’s food scene. She harbors a long-standing dream of attending culinary school, authoring a cookbook, and one day opening her own bakery.
Zane Snyder Cox
Communications & Youth Engagement Coordinator
Zane Snyder Cox serves as Communications & Youth Engagement Coordinator at the National Academy of Social Insurance, where he helps shape the Academy’s public voice and broaden engagement around social insurance policy. In this role, he supports strategic communications across the Academy’s platforms and works with the Social Security Speakers Bureau on rapid response and press engagement. Zane is excited to continue building and organizing events and initiatives that uplift young people’s voices and highlight their role in shaping the future of social insurance programs.
Zane is a graduate of The George Washington University, where he majored in Political Science and minored in Economics. His interest in social insurance stems from a desire to protect systems that support people across life’s transitions—whether aging, caregiving, or economic hardship—and ensure that dignity and stability are not privileges, but guarantees.
In his free time, Zane enjoys biking, spending time with friends, and listening (and dancing) to electronic music.
Kenyamarie Mahone
Program Coordinator
Kenyamarie Mahone is the Academy’s Program Coordinator. Prior to joining the Academy, she worked in the California State legislature as a Fellow through the Capitol Fellowship Program and as a Legislative Aide. The daughter of an elder care worker, Kenyamarie’s passion for expanding access to long-term care, healthcare, retirement, and labor protections for caregivers comes from witnessing her family’s firsthand experience with social insurance programs.
Originally from the Bay Area, Kenyamarie graduated from Pomona College where she majored in Public Policy Analysis. There, her thesis focused on the role of municipal lines as a tool for political and social power in minority communities. During her time in the state legislature, she staffed bills and committees on a wide variety of issue areas including labor, expanding access to community healthcare, and improving anti-discrimination laws in the state of California.
Kenyamarie spends her free time outdoors hiking and camping, reading, and dreaming of a world where all people can live with dignity at every stage of their life.
Stacy Cervantes
Operations Coordinator
Stacy (she/her/hers) has built a career in academia and nonprofits. She started her career in Houston, Texas and eventually embarked on a journey in higher education that led her to D.C. (where she’s spent the most time). Seven years ago, she made a shift to the non-profit sector. During her time in D.C., she pursued a specialized M.B.A. (M.T.A) in Sustainable Tourism and Event Management from The George
Washington University as well as a number of social media and online platform certifications. Through her extensive travel of North America, Bermuda and the Caribbean she has a strong background in supporting people and missions of all faiths and cultures.
Stacy is currently supporting the Academy’s Operations with special support in Scheduling and Member Services. She enjoys fixing logic problems and organizing paperwork.