Sam Quinney

Sam is the Director of the Tobin Center's Yale for CT initiative, where he leads Tobin's portfolio of projects across Connecticut state government, including the Governor's Fellows Program and various collaborations with CT agencies. He is also a Senior Policy Advisor and the former Director of The Lab @ DC.  

Prior to joining Tobin, Sam worked at the Lab@DC, an organization situated in DC government tasked with generating timely, relevant, and high-quality evidence for the betterment of the citizens of the District of Columbia. He joined the Lab in January 2016 as its first full-time employee and was the Lab’s Director from 2018 to 2025. Under his leadership, the Lab conducted more than 50 Civic Design, Data Science, and Social Science projects. Each project centers on DC residents, is transparent to the public, and pushes the boundaries of what governments can do. Sam co-authored pre-analysis plans and final reports on flexible rental subsidies, earnings among residents experiencing homelessness, poverty reduction, free and discounted transit, participant outreach strategies, processing of ballistics evidence, and bias in police stops. In addition to overseeing The Lab’s portfolio, Sam pioneered processes for evidence-informed budgeting and for hiring top research talent into government. 

Prior to joining The Lab @ DC, Sam conducted research for the US Department of Education (ED) and White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. He also worked for the City of Chicago, where he helped design a more cost-effective use of commercial loading zones and a 311 data tool used to predict outbreaks of rodent activity. Before his research career, Sam was a 7th Grade U.S. History teacher in Philadelphia and a Coordinator for a college readiness program serving low-income students. 

Sam was a 2013 Presidential Management Fellow and a 2007 Teach For America Corps Member. Sam holds a B.A. in Political Science and Writing from Villanova University, and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Chicago. Sam lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Kelly, his son Isaiah, daughter Evangeline, and dog Nova.