Lindsay Maple is the Deputy Director of Research for the California 100 Initiative and a Senior Project Lead at the Possibility Lab. Previously, Lindsay served as a Senior Auditor with the California State Auditor’s Office, developing actionable policy recommendations for some of California’s most critical and pressing issues. In this role, Lindsay led performance evaluation teams to assess the efficacy of public programs, such as the Employment Development Department’s ability to distribute unemployment benefits quickly during the pandemic. She has presented on a diverse set of findings and recommendations directly to the State’s policymakers to advocate for transparency and accountability in California governance.
Lindsay received her MPP from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, where she worked with the Center for Cities and Schools on public school facilities funding and teaching housing models, and she served on UC Berkeley’s Graduate Assembly. She also received a Master’s of Education from Loyola Marymount University, a BA in History from UC Santa Cruz, and previously taught middle school special education in Oakland.
Lindsay fancies herself a future novelist with a series of beloved fantasy novels that allow her to use her imagination and play around in a magical, made-up world all day long. When she’s not writing, she’s definitely reading. Likely due to the hours she spends hunched over her computer both writing and distracting herself reading online, she cultivates a thriving indoor jungle of plants that she can constantly sing to and check on. A California native, on the weekends you can find her listening to audiobooks while she hikes different trails throughout the East Bay before grabbing a drink and opening a new book.