Lavea Brachman

Lavea Brachman is interim director of Remaking Local Economies at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and a visiting research fellow at University College London. With more than 25 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, she focuses on revitalization policy and practice that strengthens postindustrial neighborhoods, cities, and regions. Her work centers on collaborative strategies that advance community well-being, equitable growth, workforce opportunities, and inclusive economic development. 

In Lavea’s previous leadership roles, she was vice president of programs at the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, where she led workforce and economic development investments across Southeastern Michigan and Western New York. She was also cofounder and executive director of the Greater Ohio Policy Center, a nationally recognized “think and do” tank focused on urban and regional regrowth. Additionally, she has practiced environmental and land use law, served in the US Department of Energy, and held fellowships with the German Marshall Fund, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. She has taught in city planning programs at MIT and The Ohio State University. 

She currently serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Community Advisory Council and has been affiliated with Brookings Metro as a nonresident senior fellow. Lavea graduated with honors from Harvard College, earned a JD from the University of Chicago Law School, and holds a master’s degree in city planning from MIT. A proud Midwesterner, she also enjoys the outdoors and culture of Western Massachusetts with her family.