| Senator Nan Orrock was first elected by Atlanta voters to the state Senate in 2006, after serving 10 terms in the state House of Representatives. During her tenure with the House, she was the first woman elected to the position of House Majority Whip. She has also served as the Governor's Floor Leader, a committee chair, and a member of the Speaker's Policy Committee. Her Senate District 36 includes northeast, southeast Atlanta, as well as College Park, East Point, Hapeville, and Hartsfield Jackson International airport. Senator Orrock is member of the, Appropriations, Finance, Health and Human Services, Higher Education, and Urban Affairs Committees. Sen. Orrock is also an appointee to the Georgia World Congress Center and the Ft. McPherson LRA. Her legislative expertise encompasses health policy, women's issues, civil rights and civil liberties, workforce issues, and the environment. Senator Orrock is a founder of both the Georgia Legislative Women's Caucus and the Working Families Legislative Caucus. She has chaired the Labor Workforce Committee and the National Labor Caucus of Legislators. Her leadership has been recognized by a wide array of organizations. Senator Orrock's engagement with public policy dates back to her participation in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, an experience that has led to a lifetime of activism. It helped shape her strong commitment to bringing the voices of women and other disenfranchised groups into the public arena. Senator Orrock is the president of Women Legislators' Lobby, a national women legislator network that advocates for federal policies to reduce wasteful military spending and to strengthen services to families, children, the disabled and the elderly. In recognition for her advocacy of the disabled, she received the 2008 Legislative Leadership Award by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities. Her recent board service includes the Sapelo Foundation, Progressive States Network, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) the YWCA and Women In Government. She is an advisory council member for SCLC/W.O.M.E.N, former executive director of the Fund for Southern Communities and a member of the Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers International Union. She received the 2010 State Leader Award from Progressive States Network and was featured in Governing magazine. Orrock was selected by Creative Loafing readers as "most effective local elected official" and received their 2010 ARNIE "loyal opposition" award. The daughter of a Georgia native son and an East Tennessee mother, Sen. Orrock has lived in Atlanta since 1968 and has two grown sons. She received her B.A. in English from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia and is a member of the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. |