Doris Crouse-Mays got her start as a telephone operator with United Intermountain Telephone (now Century Link) before going to work for AT&T Manufacturing. When AT&T closed its’ New River Valley Plant in 1990, Doris went to work at the Radford Army and Ammunition Plant.
A long-time member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Doris went on to work as an International Organizer for the ILGWU (now UNITE/HERE) and CWA, earning her district the union’s highest award for organizing. In 1997, Doris joined the staff at the national AFL-CIO before becoming the Political Director of the Virginia AFL-CIO in 2003.
On February 12, 2006, Doris was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Virginia AFL-CIO, the first woman to serve as an executive officer of the Virginia AFL-CIO. In August 2006, she was re-elected for a 4 year term. Doris became the first woman to be elected President of the Virginia AFL-CIO on August 13, 2010. In August 2014, she was re-elected as President for a 4 year term.
Doris is happily married to Mike Mays, a retired Business Agent from Sheetmetal Workers’ Local 100.