National Organization for Women National Conference 2026

Lisa J. Pino is an attorney, public service executive, and former Obama appointee and national security official. Her experience includes serving as a Biden-Harris USDA Agency Review Team Transition member, and as Senior Counselor to Secretary Jeh C. Johnson of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on crisis management, pandemic, immigration, cybersecurity, and business affairs. Before DHS, she was also appointed by President Obama as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights, and Deputy Administrator of the SNAP program under the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. In the latter role, she led the nation’s largest nutrition assistance program during its highest growth period in history upon the recession as SNAP recipients grew from 33 to 46 million Americans and 17 million children. She is a former community organizer and immigration advocate and has dedicated her career to ending poverty and creating opportunities for low-income children, individuals, women, and families of diverse backgrounds. Prior to her federal service, she worked in Arizona as a staff attorney for migrant farmworkers, an affordable housing advocate for predatory lending victims. Before returning to New York, she practiced immigration law as Counsel for Mayer Brown LLP in Washington, D.C. She is a native New Yorker and first-generation Latina of immigrant parents. She is currently the Executive Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Department of Health where her focus is the COVID-19 operational response for 19.5 million New Yorkers.

Heather Booth is one of the country’s leading strategists about progressive issue campaigns and driving issues in elections. She started organizing in the civil rights, anti-Vietnam war, and women’s movements of the 1960s. She started JANE, an underground abortion service in 1965, before Roe. She was the founding Director and is now President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers. She provided training for early NOW from 1970 – about 1975 and helped design early NOW campaigns. She was very active in women’s liberation and helped to found the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union. She has been involved in and managed political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout. She was the lead consultant, directing the founding of the Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2005. In 2008, she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, she directed the campaign passing President Obama’s first budget. In 2010 she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, fighting to regulate the financial industry. She was the national coordinator for the coalition around marriage equality and the 2013 Supreme Court decision. She was strategic advisor to the Alliance for Citizenship (the largest coalition of the immigration reform campaign). She was the field director for the 2017 campaign to stop the tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires She directed Progressive and Seniors Outreach for the Biden/Harris campaign. She has been a consultant on many other issues and with many other organizations. There is a film about her life in organizing, “ Heather Booth: Changing the World. ” It has been shown on PBS/World Channel stations around the country.

Zakiya is an agent for change, working to make equality a reality for all people. Using her experiences as a political strategist and nonprofit manager, Zakiya leads a diverse coalition of over 280 organizations representing 80 million people. This community of activists jointly advocates for gender, racial, and reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and much more under the unifying goal of sex equality. The Coalition’s work is to shift how people talk about their respective issues in order to reflect how all of our issues are connected and to facilitate closer collaboration. Zakiya is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law teaching a nonpartisan course on how to run for political office and volunteers on several nonprofit boards ranging from advancing reproductive rights to individual financial empowerment.

A Lifelong Virginian, Delegate Hala Ayala was elected to the House of Delegates in 2017 and currently represents the 51st district which covers parts of Prince William County. ​ Hala is the daughter of a Salvadorian and North African immigrant father and an Irish and Lebanese mother. She has worked as a cybersecurity specialist for over 20 years with the Department of Homeland Security to protect our nation’s information systems. Hala has also been a women’s rights activist for over a decade. She was the president of Prince William County National Organization for Women, appointed by Terry McAuliffe to serve on the Women’s Advisory Council, and in​ 2017, she helped organize Virginia’s attendance at the first Women’s March in Washington. As a Delegate, Hala has worked to pass some of Virginia’s most important pieces of legislation like expanding Medicaid for 400,000 Virginians, raising teacher pay, passing the Equal Rights Amendment and expanding background checks to keep guns out of dangerous hands. Hala is running for Lieutenant Governor because she understands our Commonwealth, its history, its challenges, its many opportunities and wants to ensure every Virginian has the opportunity to succeed.

First elected to Congress in 1992 during the ‘Year of the Woman,’ Carolyn B. Maloney is a nationally recognized progressive leader with extensive accomplishments in financial services, national security, the economy, and women’s issues. She was ranked as the second-most effective legislator in the 117th Congress (2021-2023) and third-most effective in the 116th Congress by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Law Making. Representative Maloney was the first woman to serve as Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Joint Economic Committee, and the first woman to represent her district in Congress, which she served for 30 years. During this time, she authored and passed over 90 bills, 12 of which had Presidential bill signings, reserved for the most important pieces of legislation. Representative Maloney began her career as a teacher and administrator for the New York City Board of Education. When her program was cut, she succeeded in restoring funding against long odds with tenacity and persistence, which became hallmarks of her career. She served 10 years on the New York City Council where she created and chaired the Contracts Committee, where she took on the Mafia, and became the first woman to give birth while serving on the Council. Representative Maloney is currently serving as the “Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Leader in Residence” at Hunter College’s Roosevelt House, a public policy institute housed at Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s former home. She was recently elected Chair of the Board for the ERA Coalition, which she helped create, and also serves as President of the New York Chapter of the National Organization for Women. Overcoming years-long resistance from the Senate, Representative Maloney authored and passed the legislation creating the forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall and now and serves on the museum’s Board of Advisors.

Kristen Herring is the daughter of a Welsh/Dutch Father and a Lumbee/Scottish Mother, who grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago for 20 years before moving to Austin, Texas. She first became an advocate in early childhood when she was taught of the discrimination her Mother and other family members faced for being Lumbee and having brown skin in America. When Kristen was diagnosed with a “pre existing condition” before middle school and had no guarantee of insurance, she decided her purpose in life would be to heal, not only the trauma in her family, but also of Turtle Island and Mother Earth. Having been discouraged from becoming an activist, Kristen instead used her Indigenous culture to connect to others by telling stories. After 10 years of advocacy, she has since then become an activist and uses her social media platform to share Native stories that are ignored and erased in mainstream media and in the education system. After the first year of living in Austin, Kristen experienced an unhealthy pregnancy and found out just how difficult it is for Texans with a uterus to have full access to their bodily autonomy. She went through almost every anti abortion law in the state, despite the fact she was using abortion care to save her life, costing her $2,700 with only 4 days to pay (out of pocket). With the help of her family, she was able to get the care she needed, and since then has partnered with pro abortion care groups who share abortion care stories. Kristen has been a caretaker for over 15 years, from working with infants and children to dementia care, and has been volunteering for Texas N.O.W for a year and a half. With the collected help of her team, Vice President Alexia Emuze, and a few Board Members, Kristen was able to successfully convene a new chapter in Texas called Austin N.O.W. As President, Kristen is leading her chapter more progressively with the focus on decolonization, which ultimately means coexisting and respecting Sovereign Nations and Treaties while intersectionality fighting for liberty, equity, & protection for all People and Mother Earth. Kristen enjoys writing screenplays and children’s books, acting, dancing, and enjoys spending time with her family, her People, and friends.

Christian F. Nunes, MBA, MS, LCSW In late August 2020, Christian became NOW President. She was previously appointed Vice President by the board in May 2019. Christian is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Consultant, and a Woman-Minority Business Owner since 2006. Ms. Nunes received her BSW degree from Northern Arizona University, Master of Science from Columbia University, and Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. She is an active community organizer and has spoken at events such as the March for Black Women in 2018. Along with her activism for mental health, Nunes also has over 20 years of experience advocating for children’s and women’s issues. Nunes is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Consultant, and Woman-Minority Business Owner. In 2006, she founded a behavioral health and consulting practice where she assists social service and behavioral health companies, as well as provides direct mental health services to individuals and families. As an advocate for social justice and mental health policy, she took up the role as Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues and co-authored a community survey on police response to crisis. Additionally, she has worked tirelessly to elect progressive candidates to school boards and local office positions. She is often featured in media outlets including Ebony , Black Enterprise magazine, AZ News Channel 3, Yahoo News, and many more.

Jennifer Leigh McClellan entered the U.S. Congress in 2023 after winning a special election to replace the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin. A lifelong Virginia native, McClellan was born in Petersburg to parents who served the community: her father worked as a professor at Virginia State University and her mother worked as a counselor at VSU. McClellan attended Matoaca High School in Chesterfield County, where she was valedictorian. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond, where she served as a Charter member of the Rho Rho Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She then obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. McClellan has served the greater Richmond area in elected office for nearly twenty years. She was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005 and served in that post until being elected to the Virginia State Senate in 2017, where she succeeded A. Donald McEachin after his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. A principled and progressive legislator, McClellan has always worked to ensure Virginians’ voices are heard in government. Throughout her eighteen sessions in the Virginia General Assembly, McClellan passed over 370 pieces of legislation, including landmark bills to protect and expand voting rights, combat climate change, preserve reproductive health care, and enhance workers’ protections and labor rights. McClellan lives in Richmond with her husband, David Mills, and their two children, Jackson and Samantha.

As Co-Founder and President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, Publisher of Ms. Magazine, and former President of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Eleanor Smeal has led efforts for the economic, political, and social equality and empowerment of women worldwide for over four decades. She has been an activist leader in the passage of landmark legislation, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Equal Credit Act, Civil Rights Restoration Act, Violence Against Women Act, and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Smeal also led the fight for the U.S. ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (from 1977-1982). Never giving up the fight for the ERA, Smeal and the Feminist Majority, a lead organization in the ERA Coalition, have worked tirelessly first for ratification of the ERA and currently for recognition of the ratification by the 38th state (Virginia), and the enshrining the ERA into the U.S. Constitution as the 28th Amendment. Known as a political analyst, strategist, and grassroots organizer, Smeal has played a pivotal role in defining the debate, developing the strategies, and charting the direction of the feminist movement. She was the first to identify the “gender gap” – the difference in the way women and men vote – and popularized its usage in election and polling analyses to enhance women’s voting clout. In October 2015, Smeal and her achievements were honored as she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Smeal is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke University and holds an M.A. degree from the University of Florida. She received an honorary Doctor of Law from Duke University in 1991 and an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Florida in 2003, and an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey in 2010. Smeal was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015.

Dr. Kimberly S. Adams is an accomplished political scientist and activist with more than 17 years of experience in academia and the private sector. She has a track record of success in publication and public speaking and served as a political analyst on national and local news programs. She has presented research and given over 100 talks domestically and internationally on women, race, and politics. Dr. Adams is a professional mediator and conflict manager, having received certificates of completion from Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation (PON) and CORA Good Shepard Mediation, in Philadelphia in 2021. She serves on the board of Directors for the National Organization for Women (NOW), the American Association of University Women, (AAUW), and the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF). She also serves on the Political Action Committees (PAC’s) for NOW and FMF. Dr. Adams holds active memberships in the National Congress of Black Women, the NAACP, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the American News Women’s Club. She’s a charter member of the African American Museum of History and Culture. She is currently Professor of Political Science at East Stroudsberg University, Pennsylvania. Her passion is teaching and creating opportunities for her students to gain first-hand experiences in politics. She also enjoys playing tennis, reading biographies, and traveling. Her favorite country to visit is Croatia, where she has journeyed nearly a dozen times.

Kim Villanueva is the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), leading tens of thousands of feminist grassroots activists across the nation. She is a veteran political organizer with decades of leadership advancing equality, reproductive freedom, voting rights, and LGBTQIA+ freedoms. Her commitment to social justice is rooted in both her lived experience and family values, which center on service and political engagement. As a generational connector, Kim brings together mentors with emerging activists by leveraging the institutional knowledge she has gained from decades of advocacy. Before becoming president of NOW, Kim served multiple terms on the NOW and NOW PAC boards and chaired NOW’s election committee from 2017 to 2022. During that time, she modernized internal election systems, implemented hybrid voting, and increased member participation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her collaborative and thoughtful leadership style reflects the values of “we, not me.” She has served on six NOW board committees: Finance, Global Feminism, LGBTQIA, Membership, Reproductive Justice, and Structure and Process. She also co-founded NOW’s Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus and organized webinars on Asian-American identity. When Kim was president of the Illinois NOW chapter and one of the youngest state presidents elected, she grew her chapter’s membership and built bipartisan legislative coalitions, securing policy gains on sexual harassment and family/medical leave. As chair of the Illinois NOW PAC, Kim led voter registration drives and field operations that contributed to the election of Carol Moseley-Braun as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She organized efforts for the 2013 March on Springfield for Marriage Equality and the 2018 campaign that successfully ratified the ERA in Illinois, a decades-long fight she witnessed through to its historic final vote. In reproductive rights advocacy, Kim served on the Illinois NOW committee that drafted the Freedom of Choice Act, initially dismissed as “too radical,” that became the foundation of the 2019 Illinois Reproductive Health Act, cementing abortion rights protections in state law. As founding co-chair of the Central Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Kim provided longstanding leadership in LGBTQIA+ organizing, integrating queer visibility and inclusion throughout her political and community work. ​Professionally, Kim spent nearly 40 years as communications director for the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, advocating for the nation’s third-largest community college system. She has twice served as acting executive director and brings expertise in legislative advocacy, board governance, member relations, and fund development. Her additional community leadership includes serving as president of the YWCA of Springfield, president of the Springfield Area Arts Council, chair of the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation Committee, treasurer of the Illinois Women’s Political Caucus and two terms as president of the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation, where she led a successful capital campaign for a new sanctuary.​ At the national level, Kim has served multiple terms on the NOW and NOW PAC boards and chaired NOW’s election committee from 2017 to 2022. During that time, she modernized internal election systems, implemented hybrid voting, and increased member participation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her collaborative and thoughtful leadership style reflects the values of “we, not me.” She has served on six NOW Board committees: Finance, Global Feminism, LGBTQIA, Membership, Reproductive Justice, and Structure and Process. She also co-founded NOW’s Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus and organized webinars on Asian American identity. Kim’s career is marked by consistently turning grassroots organizing into durable policy outcomes and institutional changes through collaborative leadership that emphasizes collective action. Her strategic approach and unwavering commitment have been instrumental in driving meaningful progress for the feminist movement.

Ting Ting Cheng is Executive Director of the ERA Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, Columbia Law School. She is currently involved in preparations for the ERA Centennial Convention to be held later in July in Seneca Falls, NY and is helping to build an intergenerational movement in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Previous to the ERA Project position Ting Ting litigated gender discrimination cases at Legal Momentum, the Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund. Earlier, she was an attorney at the New York City Commission for Human Rights and public defender and immigrant defense attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services. Ting Ting was legal director of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington and served on the march’s National Organizing Committee. She was a foreign law clerk to Justices Albie Sachs and Edwin Cameron of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. In addition, Ting Ting was a Fulbright Scholar to South African where she received the Amy Biehl Award. As a youth she was a concert oboist and performed with various orchestras in the United States, including the American Symphony Orchestra.