Susannah Wellford

Susannah Wellford is the CEO & founder of Running Start, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization training young women to run for political office. She is also the co-founder and past president of Women Under Forty PAC, which helps young women in America get elected to Congress. Running Start saw its first alum sworn into Congress when Lauren Underwood was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.

Wellford's work takes her around the country to speak to young women and girls about female leadership and the need for a better gender balance in politics. She has also lectured about politics to many international groups, including women from Southeast Asia, Korea, Bahrain and Russia. She was invited to Kuwait by the Kuwaiti government to meet the country's first women candidates and to advise them on their campaigns, and has been sent by the State Department to speak in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Israel, Belgium and Moscow.

After receiving her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, Wellford worked for several years at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, lobbying for state and local governments, foreign governments, corporate entities and trade associations before Congress and the Executive Branch. Prior to law school, Wellford worked for Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Task Force in the Clinton White House as a member of the Health Care War Room staff. She is also a former Legislative Assistant for Senator Wyche Fowler from Georgia.

Wellford is a graduate of Davidson College and teaches women and political leadership at American University. Forbes magazine recognized her work by naming her to their "50 Over 50 - Impact" list in 2023.