Holly Holtzen, PhD, is the State Director for AARP Ohio where she leads the advocacy, communications and community outreach work of AARP on behalf of its 1.5 million members in Ohio. She is a distinguished policy leader, researcher and the former Chief Operating Officer and Acting Executive Director of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA).

At the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Dr. Holtzen led affordable homebuyer programs and multifamily rental housing development including the primary driver of affordable housing development, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. She developed collaborative research projects to inform data-driven strategies to address Ohio’s housing challenges.  As part of these efforts, she overhauled the strategic planning processes and implemented agency-wide standards to monitor progress toward Ohio’s housing goals.  Before moving to Ohio, she completed a post doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Sealy Center on Aging examining social factors associated with health outcomes among underserved populations in Mexico.

Dr. Holtzen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Leo University and a Master of Public Administration degree from Troy State University. She earned a Ph.D. in Health Services Research from Old Dominion University.