Bob Brown serves as State Government Affairs Coordinator and focuses on ANA’s state legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts. Prior to joining ANA in April 2024, he was at Bloomberg Government as a Legislative Data Research Analyst. He was also a Senior Legislative Analyst at Stateside Associates and a Legal Assistant at the DC law firm Kellogg Hansen. Bob is a graduate of Michigan State University.
Chris Carlson is the PAC Coordinator for the American Nurses Association Political Action Committee (ANA-PAC). Born outside Philadelphia, Chris began his career in fundraising for state and local campaigns before moving to Washington, D.C. to work in campaign compliance. Chris is a graduate of the University of Richmond.
Emily Champlin joined as a Senior Policy Advisor in ANA’s Policy & Government Affairs department in November 2022. She leads regulatory and administrative advocacy on behalf of nurses in the areas of occupational safety and health, quality care delivery, and pay transparency. Emily has worked in health care and labor policy for a decade, helping improve federal health programs and health professional’s safety at work.
A Californian that loves calling the East Coast home, Emily holds a B.A. from the University of California Santa Cruz and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law.
Zina Gontscharow
Joining the ANA Policy & Government Affairs team in September 2020, Zina Gontscharow serves as Associate Director for Policy, elevating the nursing profession through mainly federal regulatory advocacy. Prior to joining the ANA, Zina was a Senior Policy Analyst for America’s Essential Hospitals. There she played an integral role in the association’s policy initiatives to protect hospitals that serve a safety net role in their communities.
In addition to her role at ANA, Zina serves as President of the Western State Hospital Advisory Council, a state psychiatric hospital in Staunton, Virginia. She also volunteers in her community, holding several leadership positions. Zina holds a masters of public policy and a bachelor’s degree in government and international affairs, both from George Mason University.
As Director, Congressional and Political Affairs, Sam lobbies Congress on behalf of ANA’s policy priorities. Prior to joining ANA, he was Director of Federal Affairs, Health Care for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association where he lobbied on behalf of the speech-language pathology and audiology professions. He has also worked for the American Academy of Dermatology and as a health care legislative aide for former-Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA).
Prior to working in health care advocacy, he served as Finance Director of the Christine Jennings for Congress campaign in 2006 and as a field organizer for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid.
Jonah Mainzer joined ANA in February 2022 as a Senior Policy Advisor working on a number of regulatory and policy issues including reimbursement, telehealth, public health, veterans’ health, rural health, and APRN issues. Jonah has extensive health policy and legislative experience working at other medical specialty societies as well as at a government affairs firm whose clients included local government and public hospital systems. Additionally, Jonah was counsel at a consulting firm focused on health care financing.
Jonah graduated from the University of Maryland and also holds a J.D. from the Catholic University of America.
Robyn Matthews joined ANA as the Associate Director of State Government Relations in November 2023. With over a decade of experience in state government affairs, grassroots, and political campaigns, Robyn has a proven track record in advocacy and political strategy. Originally from Oklahoma, she has significant experience lobbying for the Oklahoma Credit Union Association and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and has held key roles in political campaigns, including a state house run in 2016 and managing the campaign for the Oklahoma Attorney General in 2018.
Since moving to Washington, D.C. in 2019, Robyn’s expertise expanded through her work with a state government affairs consulting firm and roles with the National Association of Home Builders and the American Association of Political Consultants.
Tim Nanof, MSW, is ANA’s Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs where he leads the team across federal and state, legislative, regulatory, political and grassroots advocacy.
Prior to joining ANA, Tim served as the Policy Director for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. Before that he was the lead lobbyist for the American Occupational Therapy Association. Tim is a graduate of the University of Maine and George Mason University.
Simit Pandya is the Director, Congressional and Grassroots Advocacy at the American Nurses Association. In this role, he champions the public policy priorities of the ANA and nursing community in the halls of Congress. Mr. Pandya has over a decade of experience in the government affairs, healthcare policy, legal, and risk management/patient safety arenas.
He is a graduate of Rutgers University and also holds a Master’s in Political Management from George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management where he focused his studies on government relations, healthcare policy, and the budget/appropriations process.
Katherine Rowe serves as Grassroots Advocacy Coordinator and leads ANA’s efforts to engage with nurses on legislative, regulatory, and grassroots issues. Prior to joining ANA in November 2023, she worked on a congressional campaign as both a Deputy Field Organizer and Operations and Finance Coordinator as well as in local government as a District Representative. She has also interned at Search for Common Ground, a peacebuilding non-profit, and completed several legislative internships in the California State Senate.
Katherine holds a B.A. in political science and moved to the District of Columbia in 2021 to receive her Master’s in Engaged and Public Humanities. In her free time, she crochets, reads, and eats too much ramen.
Lisa Stand is Director of Policy and Regulatory Advocacy. She joined the ANA Policy and Government Affairs team in April 2019 as a Senior Policy Advisor. She leads advocacy before federal agencies to elevate nursing in federal health care programs and leads ANA’s policy work on payment issues of key concern to nurses and nursing. Lisa has broad health law and policy experience and a passion to advance health equity through health care financing reform. Throughout her career, she has focused on policy solutions in programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, she has been advocating for health system changes to improve the lives of women with low-incomes, people living with HIV, and people with unstable housing. Prior to that, she led health care policy development at AARP for 10 years. Lisa has a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in Languages and Literature from Bard College.
She strives to stay engaged in her suburban Maryland community, while keeping up with family members spanning four generations and, along with her spouse, answering to two demanding cats. She also enjoys live music, books, and knitting projects.