Four local leaders bring systems change into the classroom
In a Stanford classroom this spring, students will grapple with questions that don’t have easy answers: how do large institutions change, and what does leadership look like when systems are under strain? Those questions also interest this year’s Haas Distinguished Visitors, four experienced local leaders who share a passion for making public systems work better.
The Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitors program invites local leaders to campus during the winter and spring quarters, four fellows who will co-teach a course and meet and collaborate with members of the Stanford community. This year, the fellows bring their decades of experience remaking public service systems to the spring course Challenging the Status Quo: Innovation in the Public Sector, taught by Kathleen Kelly Janus. The course reflects an evolving model of university teaching—one that pairs academic frameworks with practitioner insight to generate new ways of thinking about public leadership and systems change.
Since 2012, the Haas Center has hosted fellows from fields ranging from federal governance and public health to journalism, human rights, and community organizing. In 2024, the program expanded from a single fellow to a cohort of four who now co-teach the course, offering students the opportunity to learn directly from leaders in the field while engaging in fieldwork, research, and special projects that put theory into practice.
“At a time when many are feeling disillusioned by government, this course gives students an inside look at how real change happens through innovation in government and across sectors, pairing academic frameworks with the lived experience of distinguished public leaders,” said Janus. “I’m incredibly excited to welcome this year’s fellows, whose leadership and real-time work will make the classroom dynamic, relevant, and deeply engaging for our students.”
All four of this year’s Distinguished Visitors—Thomas Lee, Kris Perry, Libby Schaaf, and Regi Young—lead or shape policy-driven systems through government, public agencies, or large-scale nonprofit organizations. Their work addresses economic barriers such as housing and food insecurity, education inequity, and public infrastructure. These issues directly affect communities locally and beyond.
Above, clockwise from top left: Regi Young, Libby Schaaf, Thomas Lee, Kris Perry.
Thomas Lee is the CEO of First Place for Youth, a national organization supporting young people transitioning out of foster care across California and six other states. Drawing on decades of hands-on experience and research, Lee has helped translate frontline knowledge into policy changes that make child welfare more equitable. His work focuses on securing stable housing, education and career pathways, and building the confidence young people need to pursue their goals.
“This is an opportunity to make invisible lives visible and participate in solving a solvable problem,” Lee said. “Students will gain exposure to the realities of systems change. We will unpack how public agencies, philanthropy, community partners, and advocates work together to remove structural barriers and modernize child welfare into a more equitable, opportunity-focused system.”
Kris Perry is the executive director of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children thrive in a digital world. She also hosts the Institute’s Webby-nominated programs, Screen Deep and #Ask the Experts. Perry served as a senior advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom and as deputy secretary of California Health and Human Services.
Perry looks forward to collaborating with Stanford faculty and notes that international experts in early childhood, K-12 education, neuroscience, technology, and AI teach at Stanford. Their insights could help inform innovative recommendations for industry and government. “This is a watershed moment for society to navigate the complex worlds of childhood and technology, and Stanford is in a unique position to bridge industry and experts,” she said.
Libby Schaaf served as mayor of Oakland from 2015 to 2022, leading the city to record housing production, infrastructure improvements, and historic reductions in gun violence. She founded Oakland Promise and has continued advancing cradle-to-career and early wealth-building systems through a fellowship at Harvard University. She currently teaches public budgeting, public-private partnerships, and climate politics at UC Berkeley and Northeastern University, and serves as HUD’s appointee to the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Housing Finance Authority.
“Throughout my long and varied career in public service, it has been a privilege to help make tangible improvements in people’s lives,” Schaaf said. “I hope to inspire the next generation of leaders to consider careers in local government—or at least to recognize the power of public-private partnerships and cross-sector collaboration. Solving complex societal problems requires systems thinking and large coalitions; it’s hard but rewarding work that must be led by motivated, intersectional thinkers.”
Regi Young is the executive director of the Alameda County Community Food Bank, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger through both direct service and systems change. The Food Bank provides the equivalent of 50 million meals annually, invests in local farms, and was the first food bank in California to receive health insurance reimbursement for providing medically supportive groceries.
“My late mother inspired my passion for service at an early age,” Young said. “She instilled in me the importance of civic responsibility and introduced me to volunteering.” Her influence, Young said, led to earlier roles in organizing and case management and ultimately to food banking.
Across the Distinguished Visitors’ work runs the common thread that durable solutions require cross-sector partnerships and collaborative systems-building.
“I am excited to collaborate with the Stanford community to advance a vision of user-centered, inclusive, and effective government, particularly for our most vulnerable and historically marginalized communities,” Schaaf said.
Similarly, Young hopes to explore how the Alameda County Community Food Bank’s unique position in the nonprofit landscape can foster public-private partnerships that strengthen local safety net systems and help them withstand disruptions such as the COVID pandemic and recent government shutdowns.
The exchange of knowledge is mutual. Each of the Distinguished Visitors emphasized not only their desire to mentor students, but also to learn from them—reflecting a model of knowledge creation rooted in dialogue rather than hierarchy.
“I want to support students as they consider the impact they want to have in their respective fields through coaching and by sharing my experience as a practitioner,” Young said. “I also want to learn from students’ unique perspectives and experiences to enhance my own growth.”
Lee added, “I expect we will have broader conversations and deeper insights around social innovation to create the conditions for change.”
In addition to their work in the classroom, the Distinguished Visitors will be featured in a public panel, Better Solutions, Better Outcomes: Innovation in the Public Sector, on March 5 at 4:30 p.m. The event will be held at Stanford Law School in Room 290. RSVP by February 26.
For more information and to connect with the Distinguished Visitors, contact Katie Avila at avilak@stanford.edu.
