As Smart Growth America’s Director of Finance and Administration, Elizabeth Schilling leads the organization’s financial strategy. She is responsible for budget oversight, accounting, financial reporting, compliance, cash flow management, audit, and other financial and administrative systems, ensuring mission alignment and organizational sustainability.

Before moving into a full-time finance and administrative role in 2016, Elizabeth spent the first phase of her career helping to establish the smart growth movement at the national, state, and local level, most notably in the multiple roles she played at Smart Growth America between 2001 and her transition to the organization’s first Finance Manager. Along the way, she has also been privileged to serve as the Growth Management Leadership Alliance’s Executive Director, a Communications Associate at Maryland’s Department of Planning, Legislative Aide to Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), and a Transit Facilities Planner for Oregon’s Tri-County Metropolitan Transit District (Tri-Met).

Elizabeth earned her Certificate in Nonprofit and Government Finance from George Washington University in 2022. She also holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Anthropology from Harvard University.