Melissa Kaplan is senior manager of government affairs for the Food & Environment program at UCS. In this role, she manages a portfolio of advocacy with Congress and the administration on agriculture and food security issues, with a particular focus on the Farm Bill.
Melissa has worked for years in food security advocacy, most recently as senior policy advocate for food security and nutrition at CARE. In this role, she managed CARE’s advocacy with Congress and the administration on food and nutrition security issues, and co-chaired the InterAction Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition Working Group. Prior to joining CARE, she served for five years as senior advocacy officer with Action Against Hunger (AAH), where she managed an advocacy portfolio including food security, nutrition, water/sanitation/hygiene, and appropriations, in addition to providing support to AAH’s advocacy missions overseas.
Prior to joining AAH, Melissa was senior manager for Policy and Government Affairs at Women Thrive Worldwide, working on women's economic opportunity, food security, and foreign assistance reform. She has also worked at InterAction as advocacy manager, lobbying on issues including foreign assistance and appropriations, and held the position of deputy director of government relations at Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS). In this role, she managed CGS's congressional outreach on issues including UN funding, genocide prevention, and the International Criminal Court, coordinated the Washington Working Group on the ICC (WICC) and managed the Global Solutions PAC. She also worked for six years at the Society for Women's Health Research, where she focused on health, science, and appropriations issues.
Melissa holds an Msc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics, an MA in Political Management from the George Washington University, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Connecticut.