Amy Besaw Medford

Amy Besaw Medford is the Senior Program Director for the Project on Indigenous Governance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Project’s mission is to increase opportunities for collaborative research, learning, and teaching that improve the political, social, cultural, and economic conditions of all Indigenous Peoples, nations, and communities.

Amy has more than two decades of experience working with Native nations, academic institutions, and nonprofits on Indigenous self-governance and economic development. She has held a variety of leadership positions with the Project and its sister organization, the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona. Previously, she worked at The Taylor Policy Group, which provides economic and public policy analysis to Native governments, corporations, and consortia.

Her recent publications include co‑authoring Social and Economic Changes in American Indian Reservations: A Databook of the US Census and the American Community Survey, Third Edition, 1990–2020, and “Economic and Social Impacts of Restrictions on the Applicability of Federal Indian Policies to the Wabanaki Nations in Maine”. She is a founding board member of the Calumet & Cross Heritage Society, which is dedicated to preserving Brothertown Indian heritage and history.

Amy holds an EdM in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an MA in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University, and a BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington.