Our Team

Aly Rau Brodsky is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, where she helps shape organizational vision and drive impact across policy areas that affect low income and working class families. Her work bridges lived experience, public leadership, and systems strategy, spanning child welfare, workforce, and safety net reform.

Before joining FREOPP, Aly became one of the youngest women ever appointed to a cabinet-level position in Louisiana, where she became a driving force behind some of the boldest human services reforms in the country. As Deputy Secretary of both the Department of Children and Family Services and the Louisiana Works, she helped lead the state’s landmark “One Door to Work” initiative, a nationally recognized model for aligning workforce and social service systems to make opportunity more accessible, efficient, and centered around people, not programs. As part of this transformation, she authored the new mission and vision for Louisiana’s child welfare agency, anchoring the work in safety, stability and strength.

Aly’s portfolio included oversight of child welfare, disability determination services, food assistance (SNAP), cash assistance (TANF), child support enforcement, and employment and training programs. She led major restructuring efforts across these areas, helping Louisiana streamline access, reduce duplication, and move toward outcomes-based accountability. From rethinking front end child welfare decisions to modernizing how states connect families to work and benefits, Aly’s leadership has shaped policy and practice at the intersection of safety, stability, and self-sufficiency.

She launched her career in public policy at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, where she refined her craft as a policy architect and reform strategist. Before joining the administration, the Institute generated policy victories in the areas of education reform, criminal justice reform, state spending, innovation policy, and occupational licensing.

Known for her deep understanding of complex poverty and her commitment to accountability, Aly is a frequent advisor to states, a connector across networks, and a trusted strategist in reform minded circles. At FREOPP, she leads initiatives that turn ideas into implementation, helping ensure that opportunity is both real and reachable for those too often left behind.

Personal Background

Aly’s work is grounded in personal experience. Raised by a single mother and first generation Korean American, she carries forward a legacy of intergenerational resilience, hard work, and the belief that systems should empower, not entangle the people they serve. As a child that needed the systems she seeks to reform, her early frontline roles as a foster parent, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), and medical advocate for survivors of sexual assault gave her a window into what families face when systems fall short, and a lifelong commitment to building better ones.

Aly lives in Louisiana with her husband, Elia. Together they have six beautiful children.