Portia has spent her career developing and implementing labor policy and developing expertise in key policy levers including legislation, regulation, executive action, and budget development. She currently serves as Maryland’s Secretary of Labor. Portia has worked in the public, non-profit, and private sectors on a wide variety of labor issues and policies including job training, wage standards, work and family policy, immigration, pensions and retirement, and worker safety. In past she served as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, where she oversaw billions of dollars in workforce and training investments, as well as the implementation of WIOA and a variety of income-support and reemployment programs. Portia previously served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Labor and Workforce Policy and as General Counsel and Labor Policy Director on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, working for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. She also worked at the National Partnership for Women and Families as Vice President for Work-Family Policy.
Portia is a graduate of Yale Law School and Yale College and holds a Master’s Degree from Cornell University.
Portia has been a member of NSC’s Board since 2017.
