Nora Bredes comes to the Anthony Center after more than twenty years of work with not-for-profits and in government on issues central to women's lives. She served as a Suffolk County (NY) legislator from 1992-1998, where she sponsored New York's most comprehensive anti-tobacco measures, improved protections for victims of domestic violence, and spearheaded a bi-partisan effort to secure $62 million fund to preserve Suffolk's open space and farmlands.

Before becoming a legislator, Bredes directed the NY League of Conservation Voters and, from 1980-1989, led the Shoreham Opponents Coalition in a successful effort to prevent operation of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. Her career has earned her recognition and honors, including: Champion for Public Health (1995/1998, American Cancer Society); Woman of the Year in Government (1995, Times-Beacon Newspapers); Environmentalist of the Year (1994, LI Sierra Club); and, a National Grassroots Hero (1990, Mother Jones Magazine).

Bredes is a graduate of Cornell University and lives in Pittsford, NY, with her husband and their three sons.