
Sara E. Levin
Sara Levin, MPA ‘99 is an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, teaching Executive MPA and MPA courses on managing people in public and nonprofit agencies and instructing students on their Capstone consulting and research projects. Sara is also the founder of Ardea Strategies, a consulting practice that provides board and organization development, strategy design, facilitation, and leadership coaching to nonprofit and public sector entities. Sara’s passion is providing leaders and emerging leaders the tools they need to create high impact and achieve organizational goals.
Sara was the Chief Impact Officer at United Way of King County from January 2010 – January 2023. In this leadership role, she and her team implemented United Way’s mission to bring the community together to work toward racial justice by supporting our neighbors and transforming inequitable systems. Sara and her team focused on addressing homelessness, poverty, and education inequities, and increasing support for BIPOC-led community organizations. Strategies included making grants to community-based agencies, working cross-sector to advocate for policy and systems change, engaging community volunteers, and providing direct services. Sara led a team of more than 50 staff and up to 200 National Service Members a year. While at United Way, Sara also held leadership roles with a variety of philanthropic funder groups and community boards and did frequent public speaking engagements about community human service needs, grant-making, the nonprofit sector, and cross-system collaboration.
Sara also spent 13 years at the City of Seattle where she held leadership positions at the City of Seattle Human Services Department and Department of Finance. She owes her City of Seattle career to an Evans School project she worked on with Professor David Harrison, staffing a public-private partnership task force created by the City Council and Seattle Mayor’s Office. Earlier in her career, Sara was a direct service provider in two Seattle nonprofits.
Sara is a 1999 graduate of the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. Her MPA studies focused on nonprofit management and partnerships with philanthropy. Sara is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Tomorrow and is currently Vice Chair of LT’s Board of Directors.
When not working in the classroom or community, Sara spends time with her husband and daughter in the Seward Park neighborhood and occasionally helps out behind the counter at Batch Baking Company on Capitol Hill (owned by her friend Jared Watson, MPA ’00).
See more about Sara’s professional experience and connect with her on LinkedIn.