A Conversation with Laurel Blatchford, DA’s New Senior Fellow

At a moment when government delivery is more critical than ever, Delivery Associates (DA) welcomes Laurel Blatchford as its inaugural Senior Fellow. Laurel brings a remarkable track record in public service, philanthropy, and nonprofit leadership to DA. Her career has focused on addressing systemic challenges—from climate action and tax fairness to affordable housing and community development.

Most recently, Laurel served as Chief Implementation Officer for the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. There, she led groundbreaking efforts to translate historic investments in clean energy and the Internal Revenue Service into real-world impact. At DA, Laurel will focus on three key areas: first, enhancing our strategic focus and impact in climate, sustainability, and housing; second, fostering innovation and building new partnerships across the U.S. as significant federal investments are implemented over the coming years; and third, collaborating with philanthropic partners to identify and deliver on big bets to create large-scale impact. 

We recently sat down with Laurel to talk about the opportunities and challenges in front of public sector leaders today, the lessons she brings, and how she plans to shape the future of our work.

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Tell us a bit more about your new role with DA. How do you see your deep experience shaping your work at DA? 

Over the years, I’ve been drawn to organizations and leaders that combine bold ambition with a relentless focus on measurable outcomes. DA exemplifies this balance. The Senior Fellow role gives me a platform to address pressing challenges—such as climate change, housing inequities, and the challenges of federal funding implementation—by working across sectors to co-design sustainable, scalable solutions.

Collaboration and implementation have been at the heart of my career. Whether leading federal recovery programs or directing large-scale philanthropic efforts, I’ve learned that success requires bringing diverse stakeholders together around a shared vision, and then moving that work forward together with humility, focus, and flexibility. At DA, I’m excited to build on this experience—helping our partners navigate complexity, strengthen their capacity, and deliver the results they care about most.

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How do you see organizations like DA playing a role in bridging the gap between federal ambitions and local implementation?

DA stands out because of its dual focus on strategy and execution. Through our Deliverology approach, we provide the strategic focus, structure, and discipline needed to ensure policies move beyond aspirations and into real-world results. This is especially critical in today’s decentralized environment, where the responsibility for delivery increasingly falls to a wide range of disparate actors, including state and local governments, nonprofit partners, philanthropy, and even the private sector.

And at the same time, we know that a good strategy isn’t enough; I have seen throughout my career that effective delivery and implementation is the key to success. This is why I am so excited to join DA. We don’t just develop strategies; we work alongside partners to ensure they have the skills, tools, and processes needed to sustain impact long after we leave. And we do so in a thoughtful and humble way that puts our partners first. That humility and focus on empowering implementers is one of the reasons I’m so excited to join DA at this moment.

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You’ve seen a lot of shifts in policy implementation over your career. Reflecting on some of these big shifts, how do you explain the current public sector implementation landscape? 

I’ve been fortunate to lead a diverse set of initiatives at the local and federal levels over the course of my career, and I do think we are at a unique moment. The coming months and years will bring lots of change, but the work of implementation remains more important than ever. For example, the $4.1 trillion in investments made by the U.S. federal government since early 2021 still need to be implemented—the work is not done! 

As I’ve reflected on it following my work at Treasury, I see five key priorities to keep in mind as we navigate the current landscape: keeping the focus on real impact for people, building on strengthened federal implementation capabilities, shifting focus to state and local execution, blending diverse funding sources for maximum effect, and leveraging data and storytelling to sustain momentum. 

• First, we have to remember that implementation and delivery are about making people’s lives better. If we can’t keep that north star front and center, we will fail.
• Second, we’ve learned a lot from the last few years of fast-paced implementation work at the federal level. There are hundreds of government leaders who have built muscles to do this work—and we need to keep using them. These skills and competencies are essential to finishing the implementation work underway, and to addressing future implementation needs and challenges that may arise. 
• Third, effective implementation is often about following the ball—which in 2025 is moving to the state, local, and community levels. As a firm supporting implementation across the social sector, we are well positioned to continue this work with our many state, local, and community partners. It will be more important than ever.
• Fourth, as the work progresses, we must consider the full scope of resources that need to be brought to bear for implementation to be effective. The tip of the spear is often massive public investment, whether in the form of grants, loans, or tax credits. However, effective implementation requires aligning not only these public resources but also “braiding and blending” other forms of investment to ensure that the full impact is realized. I find that many people can be siloed in their approach to capital, but doing so limits the impact of what you are trying to achieve.
• Finally, I can’t emphasize enough how important data and storytelling are to effective implementation. Information is essential to understanding progress, measuring results, ensuring equitable outcomes—and also to communicating the work of implementation publicly and garnering continued political support.  

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Delivering on recent federal investments, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is a monumental task. What are the biggest challenges policy practitioners face in this process?

Capacity is the single biggest challenge. Despite the massive investments made in areas ranging from pandemic relief to infrastructure to clean energy, the federal government has had to work hard to build its own capacity to implement these pieces of legislation. It is even more challenging at the state and local levels. These agencies are managing unprecedented levels of funding and urgent public mandates, often with pre-existing resource constraints. Many are grappling with how to scale their systems and teams to meet this moment. Bringing DA’s support to these efforts can be game-changing for government and its partners at all levels. 

Equity is another critical challenge. Ensuring these investments reach underserved communities is essential, but it requires intentionality and sustained effort. I saw this firsthand during my time at Treasury, where I worked closely with our first-ever Racial Equity Counselor and the Treasury Advisory Council on Racial Equity to ensure that equity was built into the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act from the start. In order for these goals to be fully realized, we will need to support the efforts of implementation practitioners inside and outside of government to stay the course and ensure equitable distribution, access, and utilization of these funds remains a primary goal. 

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What inspires you most about this moment in public sector leadership?

Our challenges as a society are so significant that it is easy to get discouraged, whether you’re thinking about climate change and its impacts, the need for continued focus on economic mobility, or the persistent challenges associated with access to housing. But the good news is that there are many, many good ideas for solving these problems, and many investments are being made by both the public and private sectors right now. These ideas and resources just have to be aligned effectively to be unlocked and accelerated! This is where the work of implementation and delivery becomes so relevant. The opportunity to drive impact for those who can implement and deliver at scale is simply unmatched. I can’t wait to partner with my colleagues at DA and across the DA network to support practitioners at all levels—federal, state, local, and philanthropic—and to make these opportunities a reality.

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Banner photo by Heidi Kaden on Unsplash

Thumbnail photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash