Anna Maria Ortiz is a Director in GAO’s Natural Resources and Environment team. She oversees GAO’s portfolio focused on Native American and Tribal issues, identifying opportunities to improve the function and financial efficacy of federal programs that serve Tribes and their members. Since 2019, Dr. Ortiz has worked to enhance GAO’s capacity for working with federally recognized Tribes and to mitigate systemic barriers Tribes face in accessing federal funding. She has led reviews on a diverse range of tribal issues, including trust fund administration, tribal energy development, COVID-19 relief funding, and protection of cultural resources. Further, Dr. Ortiz collaborates throughout GAO on reviews of federal programs for Tribes in health, education, energy, justice, child welfare, infrastructure, and economic development. She is an adjunct faculty member and certified facilitator with GAO’s Learning Center, and has received multiple awards for her teaching and service to GAO. In 2020, Dr. Ortiz was awarded a Flemming Award for exemplary federal employees in recognition of her sustained commitment to methodological rigor and cross-disciplinary collaboration, and potential for continued excellence.

Dr. Ortiz earned her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in political science from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in political economy from Princeton University. Before joining GAO as a senior statistician in 2005, she was a civil rights analyst at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a study director at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.