Michelle D. Bernard

Michelle D. Bernard is the chairman, founder, president and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy and is a frequent political and legal analyst on MSNBC and other television networks. Bernard is a regular political analyst with Hardball, Up, and The Daily Run Down.  Additionally, Ms. Bernard appears on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and The McLaughlin Group.  She is a regular guest commentator on BBC Radio, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Tell Me More with Michel Martin and is a contributor for The Hill’s Political Pundits Blog, The Huffington Post, and The Washington Post’s She the People.  Bernard is the author of  Moving America Toward Justice: The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 1963-2013, Women’s Progress: How Women Are Wealthier, Healthier and More Independent Than Ever Before and is a contributing author to the National Urban League’s State of Black America and Lifetime Network’s Secrets of Powerful Women: 25 Successful American Politicians Tell How They Got Where They Are – And What It’s Like.   In 2009, Ms. Bernard co-created, co-produced and hosted MSNBC’s historic television program, About Our Children, featuring Dr. Bill Cosby. The program, which explored poverty and education reform, aired on MSNBC on September 20, 2009.  Ms. Bernard is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence and the Coalition for Opportunity in Education and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampton University.  Bernard is a member of the Women’s Forum of Washington, D.C. and is a 2003 graduate of Leadership Maryland.

An attorney by training, Ms. Bernard concentrates on domestic and foreign policy matters. As a political and legal analyst, Ms. Bernard has spoken on topics as varied as the historic 2008 presidential campaign and election, various Congressional and gubernatorial campaigns and elections, the political participation and voting trends of African Americans and women, education reform and school choice, energy policy and security, foreign policy and national security issues, the war in Iraq, and advancing democracy, economic liberty, and the human rights of women and ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East.  Ms. Bernard has been featured in several publications, including Essence.com, Fast Company magazine, Jamaque magazine, The Legal Times, Newsmax magazine, The New York Daily News, The Washington Business Journal, The Washington City Paper, The Washington Lawyer, The Washington Post, The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, and The Washington Times. In July 2008, Newsmax magazine named Bernard as one of three “Fast Trackers” on its list of the nation’s top opinion leaders.

Ms. Bernard has appeared on ABC News Now, ABC Radio, BBC Radio, CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, C-SPAN’s Q&A with Brian Lamb and Washington Journal, Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom, Hannity & Colmes, The O’Reilly Factor, Studio B with Shepard Smith, and Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, HBO’s The Bill Maher Show, MSNBC’s Decision ’08 with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, Morning Joe and NBC’s Today show and Nightly News Weekend Edition.  She also has been a guest of  PBS’s This is America with Dennis Wholey, XM Satellite Radio’s presidential election channel POTUS 08, various hosts with XM’s The Power, and several  Middle Eastern radio and cable television programs.

Ms. Bernard’s opinion editorials and commentaries have appeared in the G8 Summit magazine, The Hill.com, The Huffington Post.com, US News and World Report, the Washington Examiner, the Nashua Telegraph, the New York Post, the Philadelphia Daily News, The Washington Post and The Washington Times.

Ms. Bernard has spoken before numerous organizations and as the former president and CEO of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), founded IWF’s Iraqi Women’s Democracy Initiative, which  assisted in the development and implementation of training programs built on the pillars of democracy, women’s rights and religious freedom, political activism in a democracy, issues of governance, free markets, and non-governmental organizations.

Prior to founding the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy and joining IWF, Ms. Bernard was a partner at the District of Columbia’s Patton Boggs LLP.

Ms. Bernard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and political science from Howard University and a Juris Doctor degree from The Georgetown University Law Center.

Posts by Michelle D. Bernard

Blog Posts

Childhood Obesity

Civil Rights

Criminal and Social Justice

Culture and Politics

Domestic and Economic Policy

Education and School Choice

Events

Foreign Policy

In The News

International Women's Rights

Moms and Dads Know Best

News Releases

Op-Eds

Policy Papers

Presidential Elections

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Radio

Smart Government

Speeches

Television and Video

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