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Elena Maslia Marks is chairperson of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the PPFA Executive Committee. Before becoming PPFA chair in 2007, Ms. Marks held prominent volunteer positions with Planned Parenthood at the national and local levels, including chair of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and board chair of Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas. She has served on numerous other nonprofit boards and advisories, including those of the University of Houston Center for Public Policy; the Health and Medical Museum of Houston; the Harris County Public Health Care Council; Anti-Defamation League, Southwest Region; Bayou Preservation Alliance; and the Galveston Bay Foundation.
Ms. Marks is the director of health and environmental policy for Mayor Bill White of Houston, Texas, which has a metropolitan area of 5.5 million. In this role, she has led a remarkable transformation of the public health care system in Houston and Harris County, Texas, expanding community-based primary care clinics and establishing a nonprofit corporation to coordinate health care services for low-income and uninsured people. In 2005, she coordinated the establishment of the 130,000 square foot Hurricane Katrina health clinic in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center, where more than 10,000 evacuees were treated.
Ms. Marks leads Mayor White’s air quality initiatives which have received national attention for being forward-thinking and creative in addressing multi-pollutant problems.
In addition to her work developing policies and implementing strategic actions relating to public health, health care, and environmental matters, Ms. Marks possesses a wealth of experience in politics and the law, as well as an unwavering commitment to improving women’s health and championing reproductive rights.
Ms. Marks practiced business litigation in large law firms in Austin and Houston, Texas. She founded Of Counsel, Inc., a legal search firm in Houston that focused on the placement of temporary and contract attorneys with law firms and corporate law departments. When it began operating, this business was the first of its kind in Houston, the second in Texas, and one of a handful throughout the United States. After phenomenal revenue growth, the company was taken public and then sold. Ms. Marks also worked for St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, where she developed strategic and operating plans and budgets for service lines.
Elena Marks has a notable academic background. In 1978, she earned a B.A. in psychology from Emory University. In 1981, she earned a J.D. with honors from The University of Texas School of Law, Austin. (She was licensed to practice law in Georgia in 1981 and Texas in 1982.) In 2001, she earned an M.P.H. with a concentration in public policy from The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston.
Elena Marks is married and has three sons, 14, 17, and 20 years old. | 