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Alanna McCargo
Former employee
There is nothing more powerful for policymakers, business leaders, advocates, and consumers than access to relevant, timely, and objective data. At Urban, we put the right information into the right hands at the right time to shape social and economic policy. I am thrilled to work with this esteemed team of researchers to bring powerful data, analytics, and thought leadership on complex housing policy to the forefront, helping stakeholders in the housing ecosystem connect the dots and make better-informed policy and economic decisions.

Alanna McCargo left the Urban Institute in January 2021.

Alanna McCargo served as vice president for housing finance policy at the Urban Institute, where she led the development of research programming and strategy as well as key industry, nonprofit, and data collaborations for the center. Her work focused on reducing racial homeownership gaps, removing barriers to ownership, and building wealth equity. 

McCargo has held leadership roles in private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Before joining Urban, McCargo was head of CoreLogic Government Solutions, working with federal and state government agencies, regulators, think tanks, and academia to deliver custom data and technology solutions to support housing and consumer research. She has held leadership roles with JP Morgan Chase and Fannie Mae, managing borrower solutions, servicing portfolio initiatives, and mortgage transformation and alignment efforts. From 2008 to 2011, she led the team supporting the US Treasury on housing recovery programs including Making Home Affordable and Hardest Hit Funds during the Great Recession.

McCargo serves on nonprofit boards and committees with a focus on financial well-being, community development, and housing security. She’s on the board of directors of the National Community Stabilization Trust and Doorways in Arlington, Virginia. In addition, she holds roles with Aspen Institute’s Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative and is on the housing advisory committee for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

She has a BA in communications from the University of Houston and an MBA from the University of Maryland and holds a certificate in Non-Profit Policy Leadership from Georgetown.