Molly McGrath Tierney Headshot
Report a problem with this profile
[email protected]

Molly McGrath Tierney        

Former Director of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services; Known for Her TED Talk, "Rethinking Foster Care"

Molly Tierney is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Health and Public Services team where she leads the strategy for improving the results our country achieves for vulnerable children and families. Before joining the firm, she spent a 25-year career in the field of human services.

Most recently, she spent 10 years as the Director for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services where she managed the City’s child welfare and public assistance programs. Over that period, she championed a reform effort that dramatically improved the impact of services to vulnerable citizens of Baltimore, including reducing the number of children in foster care by more than 70%. She created a business model for the agency that is now considered a national model for modern social services. She joined the Department after five years in the City of Chicago where she designed and managed the social service programs that supported Mayor Richard M. Daley’s major human service reform plans. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in public child welfare systems in Illinois and in Washington DC.

Tierney holds a master’s degree from Loyola University and is a former fellow with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In addition to holding a leadership role at Accenture, she is a professor in the School of Social Policy at Johns Hopkins University.

Speech Topics


The Future of Child Welfare

Child welfare is poised for unprecedented change – in the technology we use, in the availability of date from which we can learn and in a modern focus on preserving fragile families by keeping children safe at home. This session will be a rich discussion of these opportunities and challenges that lay ahead, with a particular focus on the arc of innovation and change in social services and the need for bold courageous leadership.

Related Speakers View all


More like Molly