Melody Barnes

Melody Barnes is co-director for policy and public affairs for the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia and holds the title of Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor and professor of practice at the Miller Center. She is also a distinguished fellow at the UVA School of Law. Barnes is the executive director of the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy and W.L. Lyons Brown Family Director for Policy and Public Engagement at the Democracy Initiative, an interdisciplinary teaching, research, and engagement effort led by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. A co-founder of the domestic strategy firm MB2 Solutions LLC, she has spent more than 25 years crafting public policy on a wide range of domestic issues.

During the administration of President Barack Obama, Barnes was assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She was also executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and chief counsel to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Additionally, her experience includes an appointment as director of legislative affairs for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and assistant counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. Barnes began her career as an attorney with Shearman & Sterling in New York City.

Barnes earned her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with honors in history, and her JD from the University of Michigan. She serves on the boards of directors of several corporate, non-profit, and philanthropic organizations. In her speeches, Barnes addresses critical issues and current events, including economic and social mobility, education system challenges, political issues, and the impact of judicial confirmation battles.