BIOGRAPHY
Nadine Maenza is a noted speaker, writer, and policy expert with over two decades of experience as an advocate for working families and a champion for international religious freedom.
Nadine is the President of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Secretariat, an international organization focused on building religious freedom globally, running the IRF Roundtable in Washington, DC and in over 20 countries globally. In January, she also joined The Wilson Center as a Global Fellow.
In May 2022, Nadine finished her second term as a White House appointee on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), serving her last year as Chair. Nadine has represented USCIRF in delegations to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Uzbekistan. During her time at USCIRF, she also traveled in her own capacity to better understand conditions in Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Bangladesh. She also spends about a month out of each year in Northeast Syria and Iraq.
In June 2022, Nadine was awarded the IRF Impact Award at the IRF Summit for current or former government officials. Because of her strong commitment to advocate for freedom of religious or belief for all communities, she was especially honored by separate awards from both Christian and Muslim communities with the “Cedar of God Award” by In Defense of Christians in 2021 for her "tireless worker throughout her career for religious freedom for Christians both in the Middle East and globally," and by Justice for All in 2022 for “Advocacy for all, especially Muslims.”
Nadine has served as a Senior Advisor to Patriot Voices providing expertise to shape the organization's special emphasis on public policies that support working families and religious freedom. Drawing on her extensive network and coalition-building experiences, she helped build unique coalitions on issues such as paid family leave, health care, tax reform, and international religious freedom. She has advised several major organizations on faith engagement, policy development, and strategic partnerships through The Clapham Group, which have included The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The College Board, The Anne E. Casey Foundation, and others. She has also been partnering with the Shia Fund in the evacuation and resettlement of Afghan refugees since August 2021.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE), The Sinjar Academy, and Freedom Research Foundation. Previously, she served as Chair of Hardwired Global, an organization working to stop religious oppression around the world.
Nadine has decades of experience in fundraising and coalition building. Earlier in her career, she served as a senior advisor to presidential and Senate campaigns, ran presidential and Senate super PACs, served as the finance director for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, and as a consultant to the Republican National Committee. She worked on Capitol Hill in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Nadine's writings on various policy topics have been published in numerous publications domestically and internationally. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. She is married with three children living outside of Philadelphia in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
