Barbara Coccodrilli Carlson has worked for over thirty years in the government, non-profit and private sectors as a senior executive, strategy consultant, policy analyst and attorney.

Barbara most recently served as Senior Consultant for Early Care and Education to the NYC Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives, and as Interim Deputy Commissioner for Child and Family Well Being at the NYC Administration for Children’s Services. From 2016-2018 she was Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for Human Services in the office of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. From 2013-2016 Barbara was inaugural Department Head of the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education under Mayor Ed Lee; and from 2011–2013 served as the Region II Manager for the U.S. Office of Child Care/Administration for Children and Families. She has served as Director, Policy Advocacy and Research at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies; Director of Early Childhood Programs at the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund; Executive Director of the NYC Early Childhood Professional Development Institute and on the staffs of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, the Child Care Law Center, and the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center.

Barbara has consulted to the Surdna Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, National Center for Children in Poverty, Children’s Council of San Francisco, the Low-Income Investment Fund, the NYC Fund to End Youth and Family Homelessness and the NYC Early Childhood Partners.  She is a certified teacher, a member of the State Bar of California and a graduate of the City University of New York, Columbia University and Golden Gate University School of Law. Barbara is well known for her keen interest and skillset working within and for multi-stakeholder groups. She holds certificates in Group Facilitation Skills, Organizational Diagnosis for Collaboration Specialists and Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration Strategies, Design Principles and Best Practice from Community At Work in San Francisco.

Barbara is the parent of four children and proud grandparent of five. When she is not helping groups do their best thinking to advance the interests of children and families, she is an enthusiastic weaver, choral singer, yoga practitioner and reader of mystery novels.