Jon Baron is Vice President of Evidence-Based Policy at the Arnold Ventures, responsible for strategic investments in randomized controlled trials aimed at growing the body of research-proven social programs, and in the scale-up of those shown to produce meaningful improvements in people’s lives. The Evidence-Based Policy and Innovation Division opened in April, 2015, as the operations of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy were integrated into the Foundation, enabling the CEBP team to continue its work to advance evidence-based reforms in government social spending, and expert reviews of the literature to identify programs with credible evidence of effectiveness.

Jon was previously the president of Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that he founded in 2001. From 2001 until its integration with the foundation, the Coalition’s work with Executive Branch and Congressional policymakers has advanced important evidence-based reforms in U.S. social programs, which have been enacted into law. He has twice been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the National Board for Education Sciences (2004-2011), and was the Board’s Chair during the last year of his term. Other positions of service include membership on the National Academies’ Committee on Capitalizing on Science, Technology, and Innovation; as an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, and recipient of the Society for Prevention Research’s Public Service Award (2006).

Prior leadership positions include: Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on Offsets in International Trade (2000-2001); Program Manager for the Defense Department’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (1995-2000); and Counsel to the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business (1989-1994). Jon holds a law degree from Yale Law School, a Master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University.