Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
C. Nicole Mason at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, November 1, 2022, in New York
C. Nicole Mason, the embattled president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, an influential D.C. think tank also known as IWPR, will no longer lead the organization, The American Prospect has learned.
The news comes less than two months after the Prospect published a monthslong investigation into the state of IWPR, based on more than two dozen former employees’ allegations that the organization—which for decades shaped equal-pay and paid leave laws across the country—was in crisis under Mason’s leadership.
Former staffers characterized Mason as a toxic leader who berated staffers and had unrealistic expectations, leading to two years of turnover rates above 70 percent and key research projects meant to focus on inequities facing women of color stalled or seemingly abandoned. Several advocates who previously relied on IWPR’s research said they felt they no longer could due to the high turnover and reduced research capacity.
The Prospect also reviewed more than four dozen internal documents, including emails, grant proposals and agreements, and records of board meetings, which showed that board members repeatedly questioned Mason about the high turnover and its impacts on IWPR’s ability to carry out its grant-funded research.
The Prospect’s investigation prompted the board of directors to retain a law firm to conduct an independent review of IWPR’s workplace environment. Neither the board nor the law firm that conducted the investigation responded to questions about the findings of the review.
IWPR staffers were informed of Mason’s departure from her role at an emergency meeting on Friday, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. Those two sources said that Mason had been fired.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the board said the change in leadership was a mutual decision between the board and Mason.
Mason did not respond to a request for comment.
The board’s statement added that the board is “grateful for Dr. Mason’s vision, research acumen, and for helping to take IWPR to its next level of impact and influence,” adding that she raised millions of dollars and helped expand the organization’s reach.
Board member Daisy Chin-Lor will serve as interim president and CEO, the board said. According to her LinkedIn profile, Chin-Lor previously worked as an executive for Chanel and Tupperware, among other companies.
Chin-Lor did not respond to requests for comment.
The board’s statement added that Mason would retain some involvement at IWPR but did not provide further details.
“We look forward to providing additional details about Dr. Mason’s future role at IWPR and additional important changes at the organization in the coming weeks,” the statement said.
Mason, who was named president and chief executive of IWPR in 2019, cultivated a public image as an expert on women’s economic inequities both before and during her time at IWPR. She previously served as executive director of the Center for Research and Policy in the Public Interest at the New York Women’s Foundation, and executive director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University.
In 2021, Fortune magazine ranked her among the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” and she claimed to coin the term “shecession” to describe the mass exodus of women from the workforce due to the pandemic, which she discussed as an expert source in several interviews.
As leader of IWPR, she sought to raise the organization’s public profile through both her own media appearances and by hosting events, including a celebrity-filled PowerPlus Summit in San Francisco last April. But several former staffers alleged such events—and a broader focus on advocacy and publicity—came at the expense of the wonky academic research IWPR was once known for, a claim that Mason denied.
IWPR was founded by feminist economist and MacArthur “genius” grantee Heidi Hartmann in 1987. The organization distinguished itself among D.C. think tanks through its pioneering research on the gender wage gap, the importance of paid leave for women and low-income workers, and inequities facing student parents, most of whom are women and students of color, their research has shown.
Prior to Mason’s leadership, IWPR’s research had a track record of informing the passage of laws nationwide. IWPR research was cited when Colorado passed an equal-pay law that took effect in 2021, and their work also played an important role in the passage of recent equal-pay laws in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New York; paid sick day laws for workers in Philadelphia and Maryland; and new family and medical leave laws in Oregon and Connecticut, among others, former staffers said.
In a statement shared with the Prospect, Hartmann, who was IWPR’s only president prior to Mason, said it was “unfortunate” the organization’s work was “disrupted by ineffective management.”
“Thanks to the IWPR Board, IWPR now has the opportunity to get back on track and produce high-quality research that policymakers and advocates need to make the case for legislation that can contribute to equality for women,” she continued, adding that she hoped the new leadership would reprioritize policy-focused research.
“Many women’s organizations do advocacy, but there is only one IWPR,” Hartmann said.
