Advocacy Staff

Lisa A. Smith is vice president, advocacy and public policy for the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), the national leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry representing the largest not-for-profit provider of health care services in the nation. She oversees CHA's advocacy agenda and public policy initiatives; directs membership advocacy activities; and leads the organization's legislative efforts with Congress, the White House and administrative agencies. She also serves as CHA's spokesperson for legislative, regulatory and public policy issues.Previously, Ms. Smith served as senior director of government relations for CHA from 2005-2018. She worked to secure votes for successful passage of the historic Affordable Care Act (ACA), led CHA's efforts to prevent Congress from repealing the ACA and restructuring Medicaid as a block grant program, and spearheaded the ministry's engagement in the long-awaited 10-year reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program.Prior to joining CHA, Ms. Smith served at Catholic Charities USA, the nation's largest social service provider network, as the organization's primary legislative advocate and policy analyst on health care, Medicaid, immigration and child welfare issues. She shaped and advanced through Congress the enactment of the state Children's Health Insurance Program and worked for protections of legal immigrants' access to safety net programs. She also founded the Children's Health Matters program, a collaboration of Catholic health systems and Catholic Charities agencies, which enrolled over a half-million pregnant women and children into state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs and advocated for streamlined application and enrollment processes.While pursuing graduate studies at The George Washington University, Ms. Smith was a research associate with the university's Intergovernmental Health Policy Project, now part of the National Conference of State Legislatures, where she tracked and analyzed trends in state health policy. She began her health policy career on the health and welfare staff of the United States Senate Finance Committee under Senator Lloyd Bentsen where she served as a research associate supporting the committee's Medicare and Medicaid legislative priorities.Ms. Smith earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from the University of Maryland and a master of public administration degree from The George Washington University in Washington D.C.Contact

Kathleen A. Curran is senior director of public policy at the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). Ms. Curran coordinates the development of public policy positions for the association and works with other CHA staff to interact with Congress and the Executive Branch to promote CHA's advocacy agenda. Previously, Ms. Curran was with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops where she served as interim director of the Office of Domestic Social Development and as a policy advisor on health and welfare issues. She has also worked at the U.S. Department of Labor and on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education and Pensions. Prior to coming to Washington, DC, she practiced law in Boston, following a year serving with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Ms. Curran received her law degree from the University of Virginia and her undergraduate degree from Yale University.Contact

Clay O'Dell serves as the Director of Advocacy at the Catholic Health Association.Contact

Indu Spugnardi serves as Senior Director of Community Health & Eldercare at the Catholic Health Association.Contact

Paulo Pontemayor serves as Senior Director of Government Relations at the Catholic Health Association.Contact

Lucas Swanepoel serves as Senior Director of Government Relations at the Catholic Health Association.Contact

Nancy Zuech Lim is the Director, Community Health Improvement with The Catholic Health Association of the United States. CHA is comprised of more than 600 Catholic hospitals and 1,600 long-term care and other health facilities in all 50 states. The Catholic health ministry is the largest group of nonprofit health care providers in the nation. Nancy leads the association’s activities in areas of community benefit, community health improvement, social determinants of health, and tax exemption. Nancy has a successful history in consensus building, program management and process improvement, advancing local, regional and national alignment and reliability of reporting measures. Prior to joining CHA, her experience included public accounting, clinical nursing, hospital quality, community benefit, and public policy.Nancy holds a Master of Public Health from the University of South Florida, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ithaca College.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-zuech-lim-9a1b726/Contact

Kim Montesa serves as Community Health Program Coordinator at the Catholic Health Association.Contact

Joe Lepore serves as Government Relations Associate at the Catholic Health Association.Contact