Liz Schmidt is the director of finance and administration at the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia. Over her career, she has worked in roles in domestic organizations such as the University of Virginia's School of Medicine, Price Waterhouse, and the U.S. Government. Internationally, she has worked for community and school advisory organizations, lobbying, an agency of the German government conducting the EU census, as well as globally for Verizon. Schmidt has conducted projects and published case studies in innovative financial solutions for the Transit Cooperative Research Program. She has presented at international conferences on finance and transportation and has been active globally on advisory boards for major IT companies. Schmidt holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago.