Area Director, Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities, WestEd

Natalie Walrond serves as the director for the Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities content area at WestEd. In this role, she oversees the growth and dissemination of the agency’s body of work related to creating safe, supportive, responsive, and equitable conditions in which every child, youth, and adult can learn, grow, and thrive. Walrond brings to her work over twenty-five years of experience in K-12 education, finance, and strategy, for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Walrond also serves as director of the National Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety, housed at WestEd. In this role, she leads the vision, strategic direction, and external engagement of the center. Walrond leads a team who works nationally to build state and local capacity to integrate evidence-based approaches to social and emotional development and school safety with academic teaching and learning, school climate and culture, and all of the ways that children and youth experience school. Walrond speaks and writes for the Center on Social and Emotional Well-Being, Alignment and Coherence, and Equity.

Prior to joining WestEd, she was an independent consultant for seven years serving mission-driven education organizations, providing strategic planning, financial strategy, and board effectiveness consulting. Her advisory, communication, project management, and group facilitation skills were developed in a variety of roles: as a management team member, a board leader, an investor, and an outside consultant specializing in strategic planning.  Walrond earned a B.A. in international studies and international business from Trinity University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, with concentrations in analytic finance and policy studies. She earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1999. Walrond is a member of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) and currently serves on the board of Beyond 12. She was awarded the Ed Myers Award for Exceptional Contribution to the WestEd Community in 2021.