Virginia
Apprenticeship
Council

Doris Crouse-Mays

Doris Crouse-Mays grew up in Rural Retreat, Virginia, and has dedicated her life to the labor movement and advocacy for working families across the Commonwealth and the nation. 

Doris began her union career as a member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) while working as a telephone operator for United Intermountain Telephone (now CenturyLink). She later worked at AT&T Manufacturing until the closure of the New River Valley Plant in 1990. She then worked at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant before serving with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU, now UNITE/HERE) and returning to CWA as an International Organizer. 

In 1997, Doris joined the AFL-CIO, where she worked for five years. In 2003, she became Political Director of the Virginia AFL-CIO. On February 12, 2006, she was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Virginia AFL-CIO, becoming the first woman to serve as an executive officer in the organization’s history. She was re-elected in August 2006 for a four-year term. 

On August 13, 2010, Doris made history again as the first woman elected President of the Virginia AFL-CIO, a position she continues to hold. 

Her leadership and dedication have earned widespread recognition. In 2017, she was honored as one of Virginia Women in History by the Library of Virginia. In 2018, she received the Roland B. Scott Year Award from the United Food and Commercial Workers Minority Coalition during its 20th Anniversary celebration. In 2020, she was awarded the World Peace Prize: Roving Ambassador for Peace by the Irish National Caucus. She was also featured in the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s exhibition, Agents of Change: Female Activism in Virginia From Women’s Suffrage to Today, which debuted in March 2020 in commemoration of the Virginia Women’s Suffrage Centennial. 

Most recently, in May 2024, Doris received the prestigious Blizzard-Jones Award from the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). The award honors the legacy of two of the union’s most influential heroines—Mother Mary Harris Jones and Mother Sara Blizzard—and recognizes extraordinary dedication and compassion in service to working families. 

Doris is married to Mike Mays, a retired Business Agent from Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 100.