Lisa Maatz is the Director of Government Relations and Public Policy at the American Association of University Women. Founded in 1881, AAUW’s 100,000 bipartisan members and 1300 chapters work to promote equity for all women and girls, lifelong education, and positive societal change. As the organization’s top policy advisor, Maatz works to advance AAUW’s priority issues on Capitol Hill, through the executive branch and with coalition with partners from the women’s and civil rights communities. Key policy areas include education, pay equity, tax, and budget. Title IX and other civil rights, welfare, and reproductive choice.

Maatz came to AAUW from the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she served as the organization’s Vice President for Government Relations. Maatz has also been Deputy Director of OWL, the only national membership organization that focuses exclusively on issues unique to women as they age. While Maatz ran OWL’s policy shop, the organization was named one of the top nine aging organizations Congress looks for reliable, accurate information as reported by the New York Times. OWL released a number of highly praised reports co-edited by Maatz. Among them were 2001’s The State of Older Women in America and Faces of Caregiving, as well as Prescription for Change: Why Women Need a Prescription Drug Benefit, released in 2000.

A former Congressional Fellow with the Women’s Research and Education Institute, she was a legislative aide to U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). She was also an Executive Director of Turning Point, a battered women’s program recognized for excellence by the Ohio Supreme Court. Prior to moving to Washington, DC, Maatz was also an adjunct faculty member at Ohio State University, where she taught Women’s Studies for almost a decade.

Maatz has been a featured speaker on a wide range of women’s issues across the country and on Capitol Hill, including invited testimony before the President’s Commission to strengthen Social Security. Maatz is also a member of the adjunct faculty of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, where she teaches courses in women, politics and public policy. Recent awards the Women’s Information Network’s Young Woman of Achievement in 2001 (she now serves on that organization’s Advisory Council), and the 2003 Mentor Award from Public Leadership Education Network.

Maatz is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio University, and has earned two Master’s degrees from Ohio State.