Senator Nan Orrock was elected to the Georgia Senate in 2006, following her service in the House of Representatives for two decades. During her tenure in the House, she was elected as the first woman to hold the position of majority whip. She also served as the Governor’s Floor Leader, a member of the Speakers Policy Committee and a committee chair.

Sen. Orrock is vice-chair of the Interstate Cooperation Committee and serves on the Higher Education, Urban Affairs, Health and Human Services, Science and Technology and Agriculture and Consumer Affairs committees. Her legislative expertise encompasses health policy, women’s issues, civil rights and civil liberties, workforce issues and the environment. She is a founder of both the Georgia Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Working Families Caucus, and has been recognized for her contributions by a wide array of organizations.

Nan’s engagement on public policy issues 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 and shaped her strong commitment to bringing the voices of women and other disenfranchised groups into the public arena.

Nan is the president of Women Legislators’ Lobby, a national network of progressive women legislators who advocate for federal policies to reduce wasteful military spending and to improve the underfunded services to families, children, the disabled and the elderly. Her board service includes the Sapelo Foundation, the Center for Policy Alternatives and the Institute of Energy and Environmental Research. She is an advisory council member of SCLC/W.O.M.E.N, former executive director of the Fund for Southern Communities and a member of the Bakery Confectionery and Tobacco Workers International Union.

The daughter of a Georgia native son and an East Tennessee mother, Nan has lived in Atlanta for 40 years and has two grown sons. She is a member of the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Atlanta and graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia.