Melody C. Barnes (born April 29, 1964) is an American lawyer and political advisor. Formerly an aide and chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

, Barnes later worked at the

Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The president and chief executive offic ...

, a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

, before joining Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's 2008 presidential campaign. After Obama took office as president, Barnes was appointed director of the

Domestic Policy Council The Domestic Policy Council (DPC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for the consideration of domestic policy matters and senior policymaking, Cabinet, and White House officials. The Council is part of the Office ...

, serving in that post from January 2009 to January 2012. After leaving the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, Barnes assumed roles at the Aspen Institute and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. Since 2016, she has been at the University of Virginia, where she teaches law and is the Co-Director of the UVA Democracy Initiative.

Early life and education

Barnes was born on April 29, 1964, and grew up in Richmond, Virginia.Robert Pear
Melody C. Barnes
''New York Times'' (November 25, 2008). Barnes' father Charles H. Barnes Jr. was a civilian employee of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

, and her mother Mary Frances Rogers Barnes (1934-2014) was a teacher. Barnes earned her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

with honors in history from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1986 and her J.D. from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

in 1989.Melody C. Barnes, Vice Provost for Global Student Leadership Initiatives
New York University.Ventas Elects Former White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes to Board of Directors
(press release) (September 17, 2014). Barnes is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Career

Pre-White House

In 1989, Barnes began her career as an attorney with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling in New York City as an associate in corporate finance and

financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial inst ...

s. Barnes then worked at the Raben Group, where she lobbied for the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,

American Constitution Society The American Constitution Society (ACS) is a progressive legal organization. ACS was created as a counterweight to, and is modeled after, the Federalist Society, and is often described as its progressive counterpart. Founded in 2001 following ...

, and

Center for Reproductive Rights The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...

. Barnes served as director of legislative affairs at the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

and as assistant counsel of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the House Judiciary Committee.Melody Barnes: Former Domestic Policy Advisor
White House. In the latter role, Barnes worked on the Voting Rights Improvement Act of 1992. Barnes was general counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the

from 1995 to 1998, and chief counsel from 1998 to 2003.Melody C. Barnes, Director
Booz Allen Hamilton. From 2003 to July 2008, Barnes was at the

, a

. She was executive vice president for policy at the center from 2005 to 2008. Barnes was involved in the launch of the center's Initiative on Faith and Public Policy.Michael A. Fletcher
Domestic Adviser May Play Greater Role Under Obama
''Washington Post'' (November 25, 2008). She worked under CEO John D. Podesta, who later served as co-chairman of the

Obama-Biden Transition Project The 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama began on February 10, 2007, when Barack Obama, then junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for President of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. After winning a m ...

. Barnes was senior domestic policy advisor to Senator

during his 2008 presidential campaign. After the election, Barnes served on the Obama-Biden Transition Project leadership team. Barnes served as co-director of the Agency Review Working Group for the transition. Prior to joining the White House, Barnes served on the board of a Washington, D.C.

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

, as well as the boards of

EMILY's List EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...

and the

Planned Parenthood Action Fund The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

White House

After Obama took office in January 2009, Barnes became Assistant to the President and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. In October 2009, Barnes played

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

with Obama at

Fort Belvoir Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It was developed on the site of the former Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Fairfax family for whom Fai ...

, becoming the first woman to play golf with the president during Obama's presidency. (Obama had previously been criticized for previously playing golf and basketball only with male staffers). Barnes was one of several

African-American women Black women are women of sub-Saharan African and Afro-diasporic descent, as well as women of Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian descent. The term 'Black' is a racial classification of people, the definition of which has shifted over time and a ...

in important Obama administration positions, along with

Valerie Jarrett Valerie June Jarrett ( Bowman; born November 14, 1956) is an American businesswoman and former government official. She currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation. She previously served as the senior advisor to U.S. ...

Mona Sutphen Mona K. Sutphen (born November 10, 1967) was the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. She is currently a partner and Head of Investment Strategies at The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private ...

, Susan Rice and

Cassandra Butts Cassandra Quin Butts (August 10, 1965 – May 25, 2016) was an American lawyer, policy expert, and Deputy White House counsel. On December 23, 2008, Butts was selected by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as Deputy White House Counsel, focusin ...

. As a former staffer for Ted Kennedy, Barnes was also one of a number of former congressional staffers in the Obama White House, alongside Jim Messina (formerly aide to Senator

Max Baucus Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the long ...

Pete Rouse Peter Mikami Rouse (born April 15, 1946) is an American political consultant who served as interim White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Barack Obama. Rouse previously spent many years on Capitol Hill, becoming known as the "101st senator ...

and

Jeanne Lambrew Jeanne Lambrew is a United States professor of public affairs and health policy. She served in the Obama administration as Deputy Director of the White House Office of Health Reform. In December 2018, Lambrew was nominated to serve as Commiss ...

(Senator Tom Daschle), Phil Schiliro (formerly aide to Representative

Henry Waxman Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district included much of the western part of the city of ...

), and Lisa Konwinski (former aide to Senator

Kent Conrad Gaylord Kent Conrad (born March 12, 1948) is a former American politician who was a United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, the North Dakota affiliate of the Democratic Party. First elec ...

Paul Starr Paul Elliot Starr (born May 12, 1949) is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University. He is also the co-editor (with Robert Kuttner) and co-founder (with Kuttner and Robert Reich) of ''The American Prospect'', a notable li ...

writes that Obama's choice to surround himself with these former senior aides to key congressional leaders on health care was instrumental in passing the health-care reform legislation through Congress. Barnes chaired the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, which in May 2010 released a 124-page report with 70 recommendations to combat the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. In November 2011, the White House announced that Barnes would be leaving. She departed in January 2012.

Post-White House

After leaving the White House, Barnes became chief executive officer of Melody Barnes Solutions LLC, a strategy firm advising major financial institutions and other clients. She joined the boards of directors of Ventas, Inc. in 2014, and

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

in 2015. Barnes is chair of the Aspen Institute's Forum for Community Solutions. In 2013, Barnes has also been vice provost for global student leadership initiatives at

, and senior fellow at NYU's

Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is the public policy school of New York University in New York City, New York. The school is named after New York City former mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. in 1989. History In 1938, NYU of ...

. Barnes is now co-director of University of Virginia’s Democracy Initiative, a broad research, teaching and public affairs initiative tackling the most pressing issues facing democracies around the world. She is a professor of practice at UVA’s Miller Center, after having served since 2016 as a visiting professor and senior fellow there and a distinguished fellow at the School of Law.

Awards and honors

In 2016, Barnes received the "Strong Men & Women in Virginia History" award from the

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and ...

and Dominion Power.

Personal life

On June 13, 2009, Barnes married Marland Buckner Jr., a former chief of staff to U.S. Representative

Harold Ford Jr. Harold Eugene Ford Jr. (born May 11, 1970) is an American financial managing director, pundit, author, and former U.S. Congressman who served from 1997–2007 in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party ...

, in Washington. In 2007, Barnes was featured in a '' Washingtonian'' magazine list of ten well-dressed Washington women.Leslie Milk
Ten Well Dressed Women: Melody Barnes
''Washingtonian'' (October 1, 2007).

References

External links

*
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Barnes, January 14, 2007
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Melody 1964 births African-American lawyers African-American women lawyers American women lawyers Center for American Progress people Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Living people New York (state) lawyers Obama administration personnel United States congressional aides University of Michigan Law School alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni 21st-century American women