Elisabeth MacNamara is the 18th president of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and chair of the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF). A longtime DeKalb County, Georgia, resident, Ms. MacNamara was first elected national League president in Atlanta during the 2010 League of Women Voters 49th biennial Convention and celebration of the organization’s 90th anniversary. In 2014, she was reelected for a third term as national president at the League of Women Voters 51st Convention.
Ms. MacNamara joined the League in 1983 and has since served in leadership roles at all levels—local, state and national. In 1983, she was invited to join the Board of directors of the League of Women of Georgia as the Courts/Criminal Justice chair. She served on the state Board until 1991, also serving as vice president for Program and as secretary. In 1984, she joined the Board of directors of the DeKalb League, serving as Courts/Criminal Justice chair, Education Committee chair, vice president, and secretary between 1984 and 1997. In 1997, she was president of the DeKalb League. Ms. MacNamara rejoined the Board of directors of the League of Women Votes of Georgia in 1999, and served as president of that Board beginning in 2001.
Professionally, Ms. MacNamara is an attorney, recently retired as deputy chief assistant district attorney in charge of the office’s juvenile court division in DeKalb County. Prior to this promotion, she had served as assistant district attorney since 1986. Her interest in juvenile justice arose after years of volunteering for the public high school activities of her two sons, including mock trial, academic bowl, track, marching band and cross country. She has also served as a staff attorney for the National Center for State Courts and law clerk for the Superior Court of DeKalb County.
In addition to her decades-long volunteer service with the League, Ms. MacNamara has volunteered with the High School Mock Trial Program; the Band Parents Association of Lakeside High School; University of Georgia Parents and Families; and PTA.
Ms. MacNamara graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in 1976 and a J.D. in 1979. She is a proud member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa and Pi Delta Epsilon, and has lived in DeKalb County, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, since 1974.