Thea Garon is a director in the Family and Financial Well-Being Division at the Urban Institute, focusing on households’ financial stability and economic security. She leads the division’s Financial Well-Being practice area and directs the Financial Well-Being Data Hub, an initiative that informs evidence-based solutions to advance equity and improve households’ financial well-being.

Garon has nearly two decades of experience researching financial health and well-being. Before joining Urban, she founded and led the Financial Health Network’s Financial Health Pulse, a national research initiative. She also led the development of the FinHealth Score, a measurement framework that has become recognized as an industry standard. Garon’s research has been featured in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Forbes, the Associated Press, The Hill, and Vox.

Garon graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a bachelor’s degree in history and holds a master’s degree in urban planning from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.