Our Board of Directors

Mary-Lacey Reuther is the Head of North America Policy, Advocacy and Government Affairs (PAGA) for CSL Behring. Mary-Lacey is responsible for leading the team that develops and implements the North America strategic public policy advocacy priorities to support the CSL Behring commercialized therapeutic areas, pipeline therapies and plasma operations. This entails public policy impact analysis, direct interactions with governmental entities and third-party stakeholder engagement.

Mary-Lacey has worked in health care policy for over 25 years. Her previous roles include establishing the government affairs function for Acadia Pharmaceuticals and leading the federal affairs function at Astellas Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this she was a Vice President at a leading Washington, DC lobbying firm, and she worked at several life science trade associations. Mary-Lacey is most proud of her U.S. government service where she served as the Special Assistant to Dr. Mark McClellan during his tenures as both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator.

Mary-Lacey earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband, Bill, and their three children.

Keenan, a Capitol Hill veteran, has spent the past decade guiding and advising principals in all levels of government. In her role as Chief of Staff, she served as the Congressman’s top policy advisor and an advisor to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where she crafted strategies to elevate the Congressman’s work as a national leader on climate change, environmental justice and rural broadband. She also led McEachin’s work as the Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus, building consensus around the Caucus’ priorities and advancing its agenda with House leadership.

In 2018, Keenan co-founded the Black Women’s Congressional Alliance (BWCA), a membership organization of more than 300 bipartisan and bicameral Black women Hill staffers. She has led dozens of professional development briefings, events and webinars to inform staffers about new career opportunities, provided a platform to elevate their profiles to the broader Capitol Hill community, and pushed growth in diverse hiring in the United States House and Senate. BWCA has been featured in the Majority Leaders Podcast, The Brown Girl’s Guide to Politics Podcast, VICE, Essence Magazine, and Washingtonian.

During the 2016 presidential election, Keenan served as Hillary for America’s Statewide Political Director in Florida, the largest political battleground state in the country. In that role, she was responsible for all federal, state, and local elected relationships within the state on behalf of the campaign and also managed the organization’s largest political staff. Previously, Keenan served as Chief of Staff to Councilmember David Grosso of the Council of the District of Columbia City. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (FL-24), managing a portfolio including political outreach, stakeholder engagement, constituent services, and legislation. In 2010, she managed Congresswoman Wilson’s first election to Congress.

A proud Rattler, Keenan received her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Anna-Maria Schneider is the Senior Vice President, Industry-Government Relations at Volkswagen Group of America.  She is responsible for the development of the company’s legislative and public affairs priorities, and leads all advocacy efforts at the federal and state level. Active in leadership positions in several trade associations and chambers of commerce, she promotes and builds awareness among key audiences in Washington and in the states of the Volkswagen Group’s environmental stewardship, safety innovations and corporate philanthropy.  She sits on the Board of the Volkswagen Workers Foundation.

Schneider previously served as vice president of Industry and Government Affairs and the deputy to the Group Vice President at Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMA), the holding company for Toyota’s North American sales, engineering and manufacturing operating units.  There she was responsible for oversight of department operations, including personnel, office administration, budget, affiliate relations and development of public policy priorities. 

Before joining Toyota, Schneider was Executive Director for Government Relations of the U.S. Operations for Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) where she headed Mitsubishi’s government relations office for 13 years. 

Prior to joining Mitsubishi, Schneider served as Director for Intergovernmental Affairs for Global USA, Inc., an international trade consulting firm, where she worked closely with foreign governments and corporations, assisting them in understanding and responding to U.S. government policies.   Earlier in her career, Schneider served as an account executive in the International Trade Practice Division of Hill and Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide. 

Schneider graduated with honors from Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations and has a Master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.  She also studied at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria.  She sits on several Boards, including the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute (Chair), DC Scores (Sustainability Committee Vice Chair), Public Affairs Council, the Organization for International Investment, the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (Secretary, DADSS), the U.S. Capitol Historical Society (Development Committee Chair) and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.  She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Congressional Study Group on Germany, a division of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress.  She enjoys fundraising for the March of Dimes, mentoring, and is the executive sponsor of Volkswagen Group’s Women’s Employee Resource Group.

Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat is the President & CEO of the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute.

Jennifer serves as a consultant and advisor to a range of nonprofits, foundations, and other social impact initiatives, providing strategic organizational development and programmatic guidance.

She previously served as the President and CEO of Washington Area Women’s Foundation, a community supported foundation dedicated to investing in women and girls of color in the Washington DC region, where she worked for 13 years.

Prior to joining The Women’s Foundation, Jennifer spent 10 years at the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute, where she directed the organization’s policy research and analysis and worked extensively with the Bipartisan Women’s Caucus.

Jennifer was named a Community Champion by Capital One and the Washington Mystics and a “Women Who Mean Business” and a “Power 100 Honoree” by the Washington Business Journal.

Jennifer holds a master’s degree in international policy studies with a concentration in women in development from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Hampshire.

Jane leads the development and implementation of Exelon’s federal governmental, regulatory, and public policy priorities and strategies.  She has overall responsibility for working with key stakeholders at the federal executive, congressional, and agency levels.  She also has responsibility over matters before federal regulatory agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as Exelon’s participation in PJM.  Jane also leads the implementation of key clean energy initiatives across Exelon, including the coordination across Exelon of its efforts to bring the benefits of federal clean energy initiatives to its customers, and the ongoing development of Exelon’s transportation electrification strategies and policies.

Prior to assuming her current role, Jane served as Senior Vice President of Exelon’s Business Investments organization and was responsible for implementing a portfolio of transformational investments that spanned Exelon’s six utilities nationwide, including operationalizing Exelon’s own Path to Clean commitment and its large-scale technology investments in grid modernization and customer platforms. 

Jane also served as Chief Customer Officer during the pandemic for ComEd, an Exelon company, where she oversaw all aspects of ComEd’s customer operations, including energy efficiency programs, customer channels, call center, field operations, customer financial operations, and marketing. Prior to this role, Jane was Vice President of Regulatory Policy & Strategy where she oversaw key grid resiliency dockets and rate cases.        

Jane serves on the boards of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago Woman’s Board, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and Meals on Wheels. She is a co-founder and co-chair of Exelon’s Pan-Asian Executive Leadership Council and serves as co-Executive Sponsor of Exelon’s employee resource group for Pan Asian employees.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Jane was a litigation partner in Kirkland & Ellis, LLP before joining Exelon.

Amy Plaster became a Senior Advisor with HillStaffer, LLC after retiring from CMS Energy as executive director of federal governmental affairs in 2023. Ms. Plaster previously served in the offices of several Michigan members of Congress, most recently as chief of staff to Michigan U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra. She also worked as the director of federal policy for the Eastman Kodak Co. and in government affairs for the Food Marketing Institute.

A native of Muskegon, Mich., Plaster earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and philosophy from Hope College, in Holland, Mich. She also earned a law degree from the Washington College of Law at The American University, in Washington, D.C., and was admitted to the Maryland bar. She has served twice on the board of directors of the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute, including as chair for the term beginning in 2012 and again starting in 2016. Plaster also currently serves as Chair of the board for the Congressional Management Foundation and previously served as chair of the board of directors for the Little Scholars Child Development Center operated by the Library of Congress Child Care Association.

Kasia Witkowski serves as Senior Manager of Public Policy at Amazon. She brings extensive experience from the corporate, political, non-profit, and government sectors. 

In her current role, Kasia serves as Congressional lead for the brand protection and customer trust public policy team focusing on the issues of counterfeit, fraud, and abuse.

Prior to joining Amazon, Kasia served as Director of Government Relations at HP, where she led their work with the White House, Federal Agencies, US Congress, as well as Embassies based in DC.=

Kasia was a political appointee for the Obama Administration at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She served as an advisor to the Secretary, managed relationships with numerous external partners, and was an HHS spokesperson on the ACA and other HHS programs and policies. 

Kasia has served in Congressional affairs at the U.S. Postal Service and worked closely with state and local elected officials from across the country at the National Association of Counties (NACo), as well as at the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). She also brings with her experience from national and statewide campaigns. 

Kasia is a member of the Jenkins Hill Society. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Policy Studies from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. 

Sherilyn K. Wright is Assistant to International President Kenny Cooper of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

After graduating from the University of Colorado, Sherilyn began her career with Public Service Company of Colorado in Denver as a Meter Reader and became a member of IBEW Local Union 111. She was hired full time with the local union in 1999 and served as Senior Assistant Business Manager, Human Rights Committee Chair, and Political Director. In March 2005, Sherilyn was appointed as an International Representative to the Political/Legislative Affairs Department in Washington, D.C. where she lobbied and then became the coordinator for the grassroots political program. In September 2009, she was asked to serve as Executive Assistant to, then, International President Ed Hill. Sherilyn continues to serve in the role of Executive Assistant under International President Kenny Cooper.