The Maryland Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the three Catholic dioceses of Maryland, announced Monday that Jennifer Kraska has taken over as executive director.
Kraska comes to Maryland after a dozen years as executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, and she has extensive experience representing the public policy positions of the Catholic Church on a broad range of issues.
Jennifer Kraska. Maryland Catholic Conference photo
“We are delighted to have a person of Jenny’s caliber and expertise leading the work of the Conference and are confident she will quickly earn the respect of her new colleagues in Annapolis,” Archbishop William E. Lori, archbishop of Baltimore and chairman of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said in a statement.
Kraska replaces Jennifer Briemann, who lasted in the top job for a little over a year and worked at the Catholic Conference for about three years overall. Briemann had replaced Mary Ellen Russell, who held the position for a decade and now is director of community affairs for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Kraska holds a law degree, as well as a Master of Arts in Catholic Studies, from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., where she also did her undergraduate work. She has served as past president of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors, as well as on numerous committees for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Maryland Catholic Conference does public policy work for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the Diocese of Wilmington, Del.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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