Reece joined the Chef Ann Foundation in March 2024 and currently serves as the Senior Director of Research and Evaluation. In this role, Dr. Lyerly leads implementation of rigorous evaluation plans that measure impact of the organization’s diverse programs to promote scratch cooking in schools and inform policies and programs that achieve health equity for all school children nationally.

Prior to joining the Chef Ann Foundation, Dr. Lyerly worked as a program evaluator with the National LGBT Cancer Network and Rhode Island Public Health Institute. His approach to evaluation prioritizes three core values: participatory approach, utilization-focused, and equity frameworks. Dr. Lyerly recently completed his doctoral training in Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University (Boston, MA). Building upon his professional background in community-based program evaluation, Dr. Lyerly has extensive training in mixed methods research and econometrics. For his dissertation, Dr. Lyerly examined the overall contribution of USDA Foods to school food procurement among large, urban school districts in the US, highlighting opportunities to incorporate commodities into scratch cooking practices in schools.