Catherine Breen is the chief of staff and executive director of strategic initiatives at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In this role, she serves as a strategic thought partner to the institute Director, a key partner to the chief operating officer, and collaborates closely with the executive and scientific leadership teams.
Previously, Breen was the managing director of the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning at Harvard, overseeing the university’s digital initiatives in online and residential education. She worked with global partners to expand Harvard’s reach to new learners and increase enrollments and revenue. She also collaborated with MIT on edX initiatives, including its 2021 acquisition, and led the rebranding of Harvard Online, creating interdisciplinary courses with faculty across the university.
Before Harvard, Breen was chief operating officer for Ariadne Labs, a health care systems innovation center at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She has held senior leadership roles at Harvard for over two decades and previously worked at the World Bank in Moscow and Washington, D.C., managing privatization projects across Russia.
Breen earned a B.A. from Colby College and an M.S. from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.