Mary Beth Maxwell is the executive director of Workshop, a start-up catalyzing change for workers. She previously worked for several years as special advisor for Worker Power and Economic Justice at the Open Society Foundations. Before that, she served in the U.S. Department of Labor in the Obama administration, where she held a number of roles, including principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, deputy chief of staff, and acting deputy administrator of the Wage and Hour Division.

Maxwell has spent nearly two decades in nonprofit advocacy. She was the founder and executive director of American Rights at Work, a policy think tank advocating for labor law reform; national field director at Jobs with Justice; and deputy field director for NARAL Pro-Choice America.