Alice Johnson Cain

Alice Johnson Cain is Executive Director of The Moriah Fund, a U.S.-based foundation with global reach that advances democracy, education, and the rights of women and girls. She also serves as a donor advisor focused on national electoral politics. Alice brings more than 35 years of experience spanning public service, policymaking, and philanthropy. In 2018, she successfully ran for office for the first time and served two years as a Delegate in the Maryland General Assembly, where she helped enact landmark education legislation in 2020. Earlier in her career, she spent two decades on Capitol Hill, authoring numerous laws and amendments to strengthen public education — work informed by her early experience as a GED teacher and literacy volunteer. She served as chief education advisor to Chairman George Miller (D-CA) during his leadership of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, and later as a policy advisor to Senator Paul Simon (D-IL). In 2008, she served as a regional director of education advisors for the Obama campaign and acted as an education surrogate in several states. At the local level, she worked to strengthen public schools through her service on the Annapolis Education Commission, to which she was appointed by two mayors — one Democrat and one Republican.

In addition to her public-sector work, Alice spent more than a decade in leadership roles at national nonprofits dedicated to improving outcomes for children, including the Children’s Defense Fund and Teach Plus. She also participated in policy-focused fellowship programs through Fulbright New Zealand and the Aspen Institute. Widely respected for her pragmatic, bipartisan leadership, Alice has served on numerous nonprofit boards, acted as a peer reviewer for federal grants and major national foundations, and contributed in a range of advisory and policy roles across government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector. She currently serves on the boards of the Sarbanes Center and Civics Unplugged, and on the steering committee of Democracy Strategy Partners.