Menu
Our consultants bring decades of experience as strategists and practitioners in the social and emotional learning, non-profit, for-profit, and philanthropic spaces in service of improving the lives of children and families.
Pamela McVeagh-Lally, MSEd is an education, non-profit, and philanthropic consultant dedicated to helping all children thrive through building the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) and advancing the effectiveness and impact of SEL-focused organizations. Her clients include school districts, state departments of education, higher education, grantmaking foundations, education nonprofits, and social enterprises.
Pamela began her career in philanthropy at NoVo Foundation in New York City, where she was the founding manager of the Social and Emotional Learning Initiative, working with Robert Sherman, PhD. Over her six-year tenure she gained experience: designing and managing large-scale education initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, including public school districts; managing a portfolio of 40 grantees; co-developing an Initiative strategic plan; and, developing a capacity building grants program for SEL program providers. NoVo’s SEL Initiative co-developed and funded Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) Collaborating Districts Initiative, the first effort to scale systemic SEL across large, urban districts in the U.S. As Tauck Family Foundation’s Fellow, she led special projects and implemented the Foundation’s social investing strategy to support youth-serving organizations and schools to promote SEL in elementary-aged children from low-income families in Bridgeport, CT. As Associate Director of Dovetail Learning, Pamela led the California-based nonprofit’s strategic planning and growth initiatives, oversaw, and improved all aspects of operations, wrote a three-year business plan to scale the organization’s K-6 SEL program, and co-led a curricula redesign.
Pamela has a background in childcare and the arts–while working professionally as an actress, she also founded NYC Sitters, a childcare professional placement company. She holds a master’s degree in Education with a concentration in SEL from Erikson Institute and completed master’s degree coursework in Educational Psychology at NYU. She also holds a certificate in Grantmaking and Foundations from NYU’s Heyman School of Philanthropy and Fundraising, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Otterbein University where she graduated summa cum laude with honors and distinction. Pamela is the co-founder of SEL for Ohio and is proud to serve as a board member for FuelEd. While originally from the U.K, Pamela lives in Ohio and consults nationally.
Robert F. Sherman, PhD has been a leader in philanthropy focused on social and emotional learning for over 25 years, integrating this interest with deep engagement on youth civic activism and social justice teaching/learning. He now works as a consultant to philanthropic foundations and nonprofits in areas of education reform, youth development and leadership, civic engagement, communications and arts education.
Until March 2013 he served as Director, Initiative for Social and Emotional Learning at NoVo Foundation where, along with Pamela McVeagh-Lally, he helped steward a robust, 8 large district learning/teaching initiative, the first major scaled program in the SEL field.
Prior to NoVo, Sherman served as Executive Director of the Action Center to End World Hunger, a division of Mercy Corps where he supervised the agency’s Global Citizen Corps, a youth activist and service program involving thousands of young people from 11 countries who convened in person and online in a yearlong peer-to-peer leadership, learning and service effort focused on local action-taking on global challenges around hunger, poverty, conflict, and human rights.
Sherman founded and directed the national Effective Citizenry program at the Surdna Foundation in New York City, where he served for 15 years. That program was anchored in SEL. Sherman served in the NYC government for 8 years, founding and directing a grassroots-focused division of the Mayor’s office. He graduated from Haverford College, and holds a clinical psychology PhD from the Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University.
