Margaret Bryon

Margaret K. O’Bryon served as the Waldemar A. Nielsen Chair in Philanthropy at the McCourt School of Public Policy from 2013 - 2015. During that time she helped create the Policy Innovation Lab at the McCourt School. She serves as its executive director. Ms. O'Bryon has spent most of her career in the field of philanthropy. Most recently, she served as founding president and CEO of the Consumer Health Foundation (CHF). CHF is the principal health philanthropy in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The foundation built a regional and national reputation based on its creative leadership, its activist approach to health grant making and policy reform, its pioneering work in the area of health and racial equity, as well as its ability to build coalitions to support its work. Ms O'Bryon has held a number of local and national leadership roles in philanthropy, including chair of the national board of Grantmakers in Health, which represents the field of health philanthropy in the United States. She currently sits on the boards of a number of local and national nonprofit organizations. Ms. O'Bryon was the recipient of the 2012 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award from Grantmakers in Health. The award honors outstanding individuals in health philanthropy whose work is distinguished by leadership, innovation, and achievement. Ms. O’Bryon is the founder of Accelerating Change Group, which works with communities and the institutions that serve them to accelerate the pace of high-impact change to address complex social challenges. Prior to her work in philanthropy, Ms. O’Bryon spent a decade working on Capitol Hill, serving in senior positions on congressional and committee staffs. She did her graduate work in urban and regional planning at George Washington University and has a bachelor of arts from Hamilton College.

Education

• George Washington University - M.S., Urban Planning
• Hamilton College - B.A.