Lynsey Wood Jeffries is the CEO of Higher Achievement, which serves middle school scholars in four school districts with year-round, research-proven expanded learning and mentoring. After five years as a Higher Achievement volunteer mentor, Ms. Jeffries joined the professional staff in 2005 and has served as CEO since 2012. Prior to joining Higher Achievement, Ms. Jeffries served as a program officer for the Fannie Mae Foundation, and a congressional liaison at NeighborWorks. Her commitment to equity extends from education to affordable housing and full communities.

Ms. Jeffries served as a Visiting Practitioner with Georgetown University in 2025-26, a National Fellow with the Kellogg Foundation, focused on racial equity and healing from 2014 – 2017. Ms. Jeffries is a founding board member and former board chair of Mundo Verde Public Charter School and a board member for the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds a B.A. in English and Sociology from Wake Forest University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, with a concentration in nonprofit management.