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Michelle Bernard


President and CEO
The Independent Women’s Forum
Washington, DC

An attorney by training, Bernard concentrates on domestic and foreign policy matters. As a political and legal analyst, 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, MSNBC’s Decision ‘08 with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Morning Joe, and MSNBC Live, and NBC’s Today show and Nightly News Weekend Edition. She has also been a guest of National Public Radio, PBS’s This is America with Dennis Wholey and To the Contrary, XM Satellite Radio’s presidential election channel POTUS 08 and various hosts with XM’s The Power, and several Middle Eastern radio and cable television programs.

Bernard’s opinion editorials and commentaries have appeared in the G8 Summit magazine, US News and World Report, the Washington Examiner, National Review Online, the Nashua Telegraph, the New York Post, the Philadelphia Daily News, The Washington Times, and Townhall.com. Bernard has spoken before numerous organizations and founded IWF’s Iraqi Women’s Democracy Initiative, which assists 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.

Before joining IWF, Bernard had a short stint with the 2000 Bush-Cheney Presidential Inaugural Committee, Inc. Prior to that time, she was a partner at the District of Columbia’s Patton Boggs LLP.

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. Bernard is a 2003 graduate of Leadership Maryland.