Connor Nowalk

Connor Nowalk is a senior program officer for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he is a catalyzing advisor and translator of data into actionable information. Nowalk works with associates at all levels across the Foundation to inform decision making, support organizational learning and program/grantee reflection, and present information in ways that convey impact, value, and positive social change.

Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Nowalk was director of data evaluation & operations for The Literacy Lab, where he advised the organization and department leadership on developing and communicating metrics, data trends, and insights to inform decision making, and studied the effectiveness and equity of The Literacy Lab’s programs and tutor recruitment efforts. Nowalk worked with The Literacy Lab for several years and held positions such as recruitment assistant, data & strategy manager, and director of data & evaluation. Earlier, Nowalk was founder and chief executive officer of Echograde, an edtech app designed to help teachers efficiently give feedback to their students.

Nowalk is a Teach for America alum and has several years of experience teaching math at Cesar Chavez Public High School in Washington, D.C., and Alta Vista Charter High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Nowalk is also president of the board of The Pell Project, a scholarship program for undocumented students in Kansas City he co-founded in 2016, and he ran for the Missouri House of Representatives in 2020.

Nowalk has a master’s degree in data science and analytics from the University of Missouri and a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, music theory, and history from the University of Notre Dame. He also holds a big data certificate from Johnson County Community College.