Mary Jo Bane is the Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management, Academic Dean, and Chair of the Management and Leadership area at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. From 1993–96, she was Assistant Secretary for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She resigned from the administration in 1996 after President Clinton signed the 1996 welfare reform law. From 1992–93 she was Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, where she also had served as Executive Deputy Commissioner from 1984–86. From 1987–92, at the Kennedy School, she was Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy.

Dr. Bane received her bachelor's in International Relations from the Georgetown School of Foreign Relations and her Master's and Doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the author of a number of books and articles on poverty, welfare, and families. Her most recent book publication is Lifting up the Poor: a Dialogue on Religion, Poverty and Welfare Reform, Mary Jo Bane and Lawrence W. Mead (Brookings Institution Press 2003).