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Yolanda Lewis, MPA

Executive VP of Justice and Health and Executive Director for the Center for Justice and Health
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Dallas, Texas

Yolanda is a nationally recognized justice executive with over 25 years of experience in the government and philanthropic sectors. Her career is defined by driving change through leadership, including the design of strategic and scalable solutions to improve the effective administration of justice and accessibility to health systems. Before joining the Meadows Institute as the executive vice president of justice and health, she was the senior director of safety and justice with The Pew Charitable Trusts. In that role, she oversaw research and policy reform work to improve justice-related efficiencies at the state and local levels of government, including oversight of public safety performance, mental health, and civil legal system modernization. Yolanda's executive leadership experience includes serving as the district and trial court administrator for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, where she managed the courts in Fulton County, Georgia, designing initiatives to improve public safety, including a focus on judicial administration, criminal and civil case management, mental health, and justice reinvestment. Lewis has served as a faculty member for Michigan State University's Judicial Administration program, vice president of the National Association for Court Management, founding member of the Fulton County Smart Justice Advisory Council, and president of the Georgia Council of Court Administrators. A certified court manager, Lewis has experience as an executive producer and host for media platforms covering justice-related issues, is a mayoral appointee to the Racial Equity Advisory Board for the District Court of Columbia, a board member for the National Center for State Courts, and a former board member of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

Yolanda holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's in public administration from the University of South Alabama. She also graduated from the executive leadership program at Yale University.

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