Elizabeth Brown was elected to Columbus City Council in 2015, reelected in 2019, and holds the office of President Pro Tempore. In addition, Brown is the Executive Director of the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network. She has prior experience in economic development, nonprofit service, and state government. Brown worked as an economic development manager to the City of Columbus, taught middle school students as a City Year Americorps member, and has been published in New York Magazine and on WOSU Public Radio. President Pro Tem Brown’s core objective is to fight for broad-based economic prosperity that levels the playing field for every family in Columbus. Her achievements reflect her belief that a level playing field relies heavily on strengthening the position of women and families.
Brown led the implementation of a paid family leave policy for city employees – the first of its kind in the Midwest and the third nationally. As Education Committee Chair, she continues to sponsor scholarships for kids to enroll in high-quality pre-Kindergarten classrooms and to fund career development opportunities for pre-Kindergarten teachers with the goal of creating an affordable and equitable early-learning landscape that all families can access and where workers are supported. To help families during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown launched the Right to Recover program to provide emergency financial assistance to low-income workers who needed to take time off due to a positive COVID-19 test but who could not afford to miss a paycheck. She established a third-party delivery fee cap to protect local restaurants and business owners from exorbitant fees from out-of-state food delivery apps, and partnered with the Columbus Urban League to launch the Vaccine Green program to help cover the costs of getting vaccinated for families. As Finance Committee Chair, Brown overhauled the city’s capital and operating budget processes by engaging with residents, area commissions, and civic associations to incorporate neighborhood-level feedback. She moved budget hearings outside of City Hall and into Columbus neighborhoods to make them accessible and accountable to residents.
Brown and her husband Patrick Katzenmeyer live in Columbus’s University District, along with their children Carolyn, Russell, and Maribell. Originally born in the Berwick neighborhood of Columbus, Brown was raised in Granville, Ohio, and is a proud public school graduate. Brown is a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English.