Maria Boyle has over 20 years of experience working on policies, studies and evaluations related to food assistance, food security, obesity prevention and school meals. She has directed and worked on numerous national, statewide and local school nutrition studies, using diverse quantitative and qualitative methods and a variety of policy analyses. Ms. Boyle has served in a leadership role for evaluations and studies for a variety of client organizations including foundations, non-profits, and state and federal agencies such as the Gates Foundation, First 5 Los Angeles, Robert Wood Johnson’s Healthy Eating Research, USDA, USAID, CDC and State health and education departments. She oversaw the cost and plate waste data collections and analyses for the first School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, had a lead role in the National Farm to School Evaluation, and currently serves as Deputy Project Director for the Study of Nutrition and Activity in Childcare Settings II. She has used key findings to write a number of reports and policy briefs, and has conducted conference presentations for various audiences to disseminate key lessons learned, success stories and best practices. Most recently she created a podcast and policy paper series, “Keeping America Fed”. The series focused on food insecurity and food assistance, including school meals, during the COVID-19 pandemic.