Print photo

Lauren M. Maddox is the Department's assistant secretary for communications and outreach. She was nominated to her post by President George W. Bush on Sept. 7, 2006, and confirmed by the Senate two weeks later on Sept. 21. As assistant secretary, she serves as the primary communications adviser to Secretary Margaret Spellings, developing strategies for communicating to the public about the nation's education policies and initiatives. In addition to media relations, Maddox directs both internal and external communications and oversees outreach efforts to key stakeholders, including state elected officials, school district administrators, business and nongovernmental organization leaders, teachers, students and parents.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Maddox earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. After graduating in 1986, she landed a job as an advertising assistant with Ingalls, Quinn and Johnson in Boston, where she worked for a year before seeking a master's degree in broadcast journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. During the program’s winter term, she worked at Medill’s Washington, D.C., bureau, found the city to her liking and resolved to return after graduation.

By 1988, Maddox was back in Washington, this time as the communications director for the National Association for Home Care. A year and a half later, she went to Capitol Hill as the press secretary to Rep. Joel M. Hefley (R-Colo.), for whom she worked for five years on judiciary and armed services issues.

In January 1995, Maddox was named deputy press secretary to newly elected Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). She worked in the speaker's office and with House leadership on the new majority’s agenda through 1997, when she left to become senior vice president of communications for the Federation of American Hospitals.

In 1999, Maddox returned to the Hill to work for the House Republican Conference chairman, Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. (R-Okla.), helping to craft a long-term strategic communications plan.

In 2000, leaders at the government affairs firm PodestaMattoon, now Podesta Group, were successful in convincing Maddox to join them as a principal. During her five years there, she served as a legislative and public relations counsel to a broad range of corporate and nonprofit clients, including Google, Heineken USA and Children's National Medical Center, until joining the Department.