Lauren Baxa is a special assistant and project manager in the Executive Office at the Urban Institute. She offers scheduling, meeting coordination, and communications assistance to senior vice president Mary Cunningham and supports the Executive Office and research management and program development priorities and initiatives. Before joining Urban, Baxa held various strategic and analytical policy positions with the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. She holds a BA in communication studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MPA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.