Pamela McVeagh-Lally is a founding partner of SEL Consulting Collaborative and a philanthropic, non-profit consultant, and education 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, grantmaking foundations, education non-profits, and social enterprises.

Pamela’s consulting projects include: serving as director of programming for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) inaugural 2019 SEL Exchange Conference, which brought together 1,500 education leaders from 30 countries to advance high quality, evidence-based SEL; designing strategic gatherings; developing strategic plans for many education, youth development, and leadership development non-profit organizations, including Transformative Educational Leadership; revising pre-K-12 curriculum for SEL program providers; creating funding plans for grantmaking foundations; collaborating with Partnership for Children and Youth and California education leaders to create SEL Guiding Principles and Transformative SEL Competencies for California Department of Education; co-developing the CALHope SEL professional learning modules for U.C. Berkeley’s Greater Good in Education; developing the Nebraska Department of Education Social and Emotional Learning Resources for Educators and Leaders Guide; creating a systemic SEL implementation plan for Aspire Schools’ network of 40 sites; co-creating tools and language for the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development How Learning Happens suite, among many other projects. 

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 alongside Dr. Robert Sherman. 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, in 2005, while working professionally as an actress, she also founded NYC Sitters, a childcare professional placement company. She completed master’s degree coursework in Educational Psychology at NYU and is pursuing a master’s degree in Education with a concentration in SEL at Erikson Institute. She 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, as an advisor to U.C. Berkeley’s Greater Good in Education, and SEL for U.S., and on the Steering Committee for Karanga: The Global Alliance for SEL and Life Skills. She is originally from the U.K and lives in Ohio and consults nationally. LinkedIn Profile.