Meet Our Staff

As founding President/CEO of GRACE/End Child Poverty CA, Collis led GRACE and End Child Poverty CA from inception in 2013 through 2021. He led the 2018 development and implementation of a comprehensive evidence-based child and family poverty plan for California. $4.8 billion per year of the plan’s funding recommendations have been adopted, resulting in over 290,000 children and families moving out of poverty in California and an additional 115,000 out of deep poverty in 2019-20.

Collis formed the End Child Poverty CA Coalition, co-chaired by Dolores Huerta with 173 organizations as members, to support advocacy for these and subsequent child and family poverty proposals.

Collis was previously Senior Counsel and Chief Public Policy Officer for the Daughters of Charity Health System where he created and guided enactment of state non-tax revenue legislation and required federal approval that has provided $40 billion to serve Medicaid patients in CA.

As an elected member and Chair of the California Tax Board, he directed reform of the state sales and income tax bureaucracies, sponsored successful measures including the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, tax code enforcement of laws against discriminatory practices, and childcare tax credits.

Previously he was a Counsel on the U. S. Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare working on domestic social programs and related issues.

Before joining the Mayor’s Fund, Conway served as Senior Advisor to GRACE/End Child Poverty CA and President of CaliforniaTomorrow, focused on the development and funding for comprehensive place-based anti-poverty programs and funding for anti-recidivism organizations.

Collis was the founding Board Chair of the National Foster Youth Institute from 2012-2021, now serving on the Board, co-chaired the CA Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force and chaired the State Senate Bi-Partisan Task Force on Homelessness.

He is a graduate of Occidental College and Stanford Law School.