As Co-Director of Communications, Joy Zimmerman is primarily responsible for helping to ensure the quality, relevance, and usefulness of WestEd substantive publications and other products. Focused principally on the development of research-based products intended to serve the specific needs of particular audiences, from education practitioners to policymakers, Zimmerman and her staff collaborate with researchers and other authors to conceptualize and develop products, seeing the process through to production and dissemination planning.

Zimmerman also serves as Communications' liaison for WestEd's Regional Educational Laboratory West team; in that role, she edits or oversees the editing of REL research products and advises on dissemination efforts.

Her past work at WestEd has included serving as executive editor of R&D Alert, WestEd's award-winning newsletter; developing WestEd's initial publications quality assurance process; managing media relations; and serving as lead editor and quality assurance manager for Innovations in Education, a series of promising practice guides produced by WestEd for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement.

Before joining WestEd, Zimmerman was a journalist for 10 years, covering a range of social issues, including education. Her background also includes prior work in nonprofit communications, as well as in court administration, specifically in the juvenile and family courts.

Zimmerman was educated at University of California, Berkeley, University of Iowa, and Kalamazoo College.