Betsy Wright Hawkings served as chief of staff for four members of Congress over 25 years, including her hometown Congressman Christopher Shays, helping build bipartisan coalitions to balance the federal budget in 1995-96; apply civil rights, fair labor standards and workplace safety laws to Congress; and establish the 9-11 Commission and implement its recommendations. She served as the founding Managing Director of Democracy Fund’s Principled Leadership and Effective Governance program, where she built a grant portfolio focused on fostering dialogue across the ideological spectrum and reducing incentives for hyper-partisanship and gridlock in government, developing campaigns for congressional systems, processes and procedures, and innovative programs to deepen leadership development for members of Congress and staff.
