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the organization’s disability economic justice work, and launched a national bipartisan campaign to modernize SSI’s outdated asset limits.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!
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.
Dora Mendelson
Chief of Staff
Dora Mendelson is the Academy’s Chief of Staff. In this capacity, she provides direct support to the CEO while furthering the wide range of research projects hosted by the Academy. Dora has strong interests in disability justice, public health, and policy. Before landing at the Academy, Dora had a brief stint on the Hill, interning in the Disability Policy Office of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
Dora graduated from Colgate University summa cum laude in May 2023 with a double major in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies. At Colgate, she earned high honors for her thesis on the history of gynecology and its impact on the American eugenics movement. Dora graduated in September 2024 from McMaster University with a Master of Arts in Gender Studies with a concentration in Critical Disability Studies. Her dissertation explored how diabetes stigma is imbedded in American public policy.
Dora lives in DC, where she grew up. In her free time, she enjoys baking sourdough and exploring the DC food scene. Outside of her DC policy-related career goals, Dora fantasizes about going to culinary school, writing a cookbook, and opening a bakery on a daily basis.
Zane Snyder Cox
Communications Fellow
Zane Snyder Cox is a Communications Fellow at the Academy. In this role, he contributes to the Academy’s strategic communications by drafting and refining content for email campaigns, newsletters, and LinkedIn, helping to amplify the Academy’s work and engage a broad audience. He also supports the Academy’s Task Force on AI, Emerging Tech, & Disability Benefits and the recently launched Disability Economic Policy Research Consortium. Finally, Zane is excited to continue building and organizing events that uplift young people’s voices and highlight their role in shaping the future of social insurance programs.
Zane is graduate of The George Washington University with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics. His policy interest areas include environmental and energy policy. His interest in social insurance stems from a desire to build 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. Zane served as the Merton C. Bernstein Intern on Social Insurance in the summer of 2025, during which he worked with the Academy to support their Social Security policy portfolio and with Matz, Blancato & Associates to support their work with the Elder Justice Coalition to end elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.