Americans for a Balanced Budget and the Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise Name Laurie Onorio Chief Executive Officer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2026
Contact: Ginevra Joyce-Myers
202-506-5320
WASHINGTON, DC – Americans for a Balanced Budget (ABB) and the Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise (CIFE) today named Laurie Onorio as Chief Executive Officer. Onorio will direct the organizations’ advocacy campaigns, strategic partnerships, and program development from ABB’s Washington, DC office. She joins President Dee Stewart and CIFE Executive Director Ginevra Joyce-Myers in the organizations’ leadership.
Onorio brings more than two decades of experience in political campaigns, government affairs, issue advocacy, and strategic communications. She joins ABB and CIFE as the organizations advocate for fiscal discipline with policies that remove barriers to American innovation. CIFE focuses on the intersection of rapid innovations, AI, energy demand, innovation, and intellectual property protection to ensure American competitiveness well into the 21st Century. ABB’s mission is centered on fiscal discipline that serves taxpayers and innovation alike.
“Laurie is the experienced leader we need for this moment,” said Dee Stewart, President of ABB. “She has built winning coalitions and campaigns in some of the toughest political environments in the country, managed complex multi-state initiatives, and knows how to translate strategy into results. As we scale our work on fiscal responsibility and innovation policy, Laurie’s expertise and relationships across the corporate, nonprofit, academic, and political sectors will be essential to our continued growth.”
“ABB and CIFE sit at the intersection of the two most pressing challenges facing America: a government that spends beyond its means and often fails taxpayers, and a regulatory system that can’t keep pace with innovation and stifles business,” said Laurie Onorio. “I’m ready to build the partnerships and campaigns that deliver results on both fronts.”
Onorio will expand ABB and CIFE’s strategic partnerships and the programmatic infrastructure to execute federal and state education and advocacy campaigns. She will also oversee the organization’s thought leadership initiatives, including policy convenings, issue pillars, and coalition development.
Onorio is a 2006 graduate of North Carolina State University and resides in Northern Virginia with her family.
Americans for a Balanced Budget (ABB) is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to restoring fiscal discipline and government accountability.
Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise (CIFE), a project of ABB, is a public policy center dedicated to principles of the rule of law, free markets, individual liberty, and limited government.
Laurie Onorio is a public affairs professional with more than two decades of experience driving policy outcomes in 30 states on more than 100 issues. She founded The Advocacy Shop in 2014, a political advisory and public affairs firm. She also served as Partner and Vice President of Strategic Communications at Walk West, a digital-first agency, during a rapid growth phase, contributing to the agency’s recognition as an Inc. 5,000 Fastest Growing Company for three consecutive years. Onorio has also held senior consulting roles with national philanthropic organizations, directing state and multi-state policy programs, campaigns, and convening bipartisan coalitions that achieved landmark legislative and regulatory outcomes.
Laurie lives in northern Virginia with her husband and four children. She is a member of political, advocacy, and industry associations, including the State Government Affairs Council (SGAC), where she is Co-Chair of the Education and Training Committee.
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