Ashley B. Carson

Ashley Carson Cottingham, J.D., is the Policy & Advocacy Director for Compassion & Choices. Before joining Compassion & Choices she was the Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Primary Health & Aging of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions at the U.S. Senate. She is also a former Executive Director of OWL – The Voice of Midlife and Older Women, founded as the Older Women’s League. During her time with OWL she worked closely with the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations as the co-chair of the Income Security Committee and also as co-chair of the Older Women’s Economic Security Taskforce for the National Council of Women’s Organizations. Additionally, she sat on the Executive Committee of both the Elder Justice Coalition and the National Coalition on Mental Health and Aging in D.C, and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Prior to joining OWL, Ms. Carson worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children (CASA). She also worked as part of the Vermont Long-Term Care Ombudsman Project where she visited long-term care facilities, met with residents, and advocated for reform to guardianship laws. Prior earning her law degree, Ms. Carson worked in Human Resources at a Continuing Care Retirement Community in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Carson received her law degree from Vermont Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of Oregon.