Betsy Thraves serves as an Advancement Liaison at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. She has had an unusually varied career, ranging from high school teacher to congressional staffer to missionary to donor stewardship. Before coming to the Mackinac Center, Betsy worked as executive assistant to the Vice President for Development at State Policy Network for over ten years. Prior to SPN, she served two U.S. Senators and was executive assistant and scheduler to a U.S. Representative in Washington, as well as for Vice President Dan Quayle’s top domestic policy advisor. She then left Washington to be a missionary to the Republic of Latvia for 12 years, eventually returning to D.C., this time to the world of fundraising in freedom-oriented policy organizations.

Betsy received her Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education in business and office administration from Georgia Southern University. She is from South Carolina, although she considers herself an honorary Michigander. She lives with her two rowdy rescue dogs, Baxter and Bart. Betsy enjoys being active in her church and serves as social chairman for her neighborhood HOA. She is a crochet fanatic, enjoys having coffee and conversation with friends, loves to travel when she can, is an amateur photographer, and adores teaching American history and government to high school kids.