Michaela Hahn Burriss

Michaela Burriss is the Policy Director for the Ohio Justice & Policy Center (OJPC). An attorney, Michaela joined OJPC in March of 2025 and has spent most of her career in the public sector, including the U.S. Senate, Ohio Senate, Ohio House of Representatives, and nonprofit advocacy. In these roles, she’s traveled the state drafting and championing policy while conducting constituent services and research to help Ohioans navigate government bureaucracy and gain access to critical needs. She also served one term in local office as the youngest woman ever elected to Upper Arlington City Council and is the recipient of the League of Women Voters of Ohio 2023 Judge Florence E. Allen Outstanding Public Service Trailblazer Award, an award shared with former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, the first woman to lead the state judicial branch of government and the longest-serving statewide elected woman in Ohio history.

A lifelong Ohioan and native of Northeast Ohio, raised in poverty by a single mother who immigrated from Germany, Michaela is a high school All-American and accepted a full athletic scholarship to Ohio University. At Ohio, she was an Academic All-American and multi-time All-Mid-American Conference athlete while obtaining a degree in Political Science Pre-Law before graduating from Capital University Law School. Michaela and her husband Patrick currently reside in Central Ohio and are the proud parents of their daughter, Sascha, and dog, Koopa.