Mary Blanche Hankey is vice president of Federal Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR). In this role, she directs advocacy, strategy, policy development, and administrative efforts to support ILR’s federal program and its broader legal reform initiatives.

Hankey brings more than 15 years of federal policy and advocacy experience spanning both the federal legislative and executive branches. Before joining ILR, she held senior positions in the U.S. Senate and at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Most recently, Hankey served as senior adviser and chief counsel in the Senate, where she advised on complex legal, legislative, and regulatory matters and provided strategic counsel on emerging federal policy developments. At Justice, she held several key leadership roles in the Office of Legislative Affairs, including acting assistant attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general.

Hankey began her career in private practice defending businesses in complex commercial matters, including products liability, toxic torts, and financial services cases.

She earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Alabama and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama. She is a member of the Alabama and Florida bar associations and lives in Capitol Hill with her husband and two sons.