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Maggie Gratz
Incoming MBA Candidate at Stanford GSB - Former Fulbrighter - MPP
Professional Background
Maggie Gratz is a distinguished public policy professional with a robust array of experiences spanning various sectors, including immigration services, political campaigning, global education, and government affairs. Currently, Maggie serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President and Chief Executive Officer at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. In this pivotal role, she is instrumental in shaping policies that support immigrants and refugees, advocating for humane and just treatment within the immigration system in the United States.
Prior to this substantial appointment, Maggie played an essential role in the political arena, serving as the Campaign Manager and Chief of Staff for Thiru Vignarajah's campaign for Baltimore. Her leadership contributed significantly to the campaign's strategic direction, community engagement efforts, and overall message. This experience not only honed her political acumen but also deepened her commitment to public service and social justice issues.
Maggie's professional journey is highlighted by her diverse experiences as a Fulbright Student Program Grantee, where she engaged in cross-cultural exchange and educational initiatives. This prestigious program allowed her to broaden her perspective on global issues, further enhancing her capabilities in public policy and development. Earlier in her career, she gained invaluable insights into legislative processes and public administration as a Legislative Intern at the U.S. House of Representatives, where she supported congressional operations and policy research.
In addition to her work in political environments, Maggie's dedication to global education was palpable during her time as a Global Education Intern at Results for Development. Here, she worked on projects that aimed to improve educational access and quality in under-resourced communities worldwide. This experience aligns with her academic background and passion for global development, particularly in creating sustainable solutions to complex challenges.
Education and Achievements
Maggie's academic journey reflects her unwavering commitment to understanding and addressing global challenges through the lens of public policy and development. She holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the prestigious Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, where she cultivated her policy analysis and leadership skills to prepare for a career dedicated to social change.
Her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia featured a B.A. in Global Development Studies, complemented by a minor in Global Sustainability. This interdisciplinary foundation equipped Maggie with critical insights into socio-economic development frameworks and sustainable practices necessary for initiating impactful change. Further enriching her educational experience, she participated in a semester abroad at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, which allowed her to immerse herself in new cultures and development practices, enhancing her global perspective.
Maggie’s leadership was evident during her time at UVA, where she was President of the Batten Graduate Council. In this role, she advocated for fellow graduate students, organized events, and fostered a collaborative community at the school.
Notable Contributions and Experience
Maggie Gratz's professional timeline encompasses a variety of roles and responsibilities showcasing her adaptability and versatility in different environments. From her early career as a Projects and Proposals Intern at International Development Group LLC to graduate-level research assistantships at her university, Maggie continually demonstrated her capability to contribute effectively to any team. Her experience interacting with government officials abroad through her Internship at the Office of Foreign Affairs in Chiang Mai Provincial Hall has also provided her with a nuanced understanding of international relations and diplomacy.
As a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Frank Batten School, Maggie not only shared her expertise with students but also honed her own understanding of educational methodologies, further enriching her comprehensive approach to public policy. Additionally, her role as a Student Researcher at Prolinnova reflects her commitment to participatory development processes, underscoring her belief in community-driven solutions.
Throughout her journey, Maggie has cultivated a unique skill set characterized by effective communication, strategic planning, and a deep understanding of public policy. Her ability to navigate complex systems and connect stakeholders positions her as a leading advocate for social equity and change, particularly in the fields of immigration, education, and global sustainability.
In every role, from her grassroots involvement in campaign efforts to her strategic leadership in non-profit organizations, Maggie Gratz has consistently demonstrated her passion for creating a better world through informed policy solutions and dedicated public service. Her blend of experience, education, and commitment to impactful action continues to make her an influential figure in the realm of public policy and global development.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.