Experts

Melody Barnes

Executive Director of the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy

Fast Facts

  • Director of White House Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama
  • Former executive vice president of the Center for American Progress
  • Chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
  • Expertise on democracy, public policy, health policy, civil rights

Areas Of Expertise

  • Domestic Affairs
  • Health
  • Law and Justice
  • Social Issues
  • Economic Issues
  • Leadership
  • Politics
  • The Presidency

Melody Barnes is executive director of the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy and a professor of practice at the Miller Center. She is also a distinguished fellow at the UVA School of Law. A co-founder of the domestic strategy firm MB2 Solutions LLC, Barnes 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. 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.

 

Featured Publications

Community Wealth Building
Community Wealth Building and the Reconstruction of American Democracy

Melody C. Barnes (co-editor)

Melody Barnes News Feed

partnership for public service headline
Ever heard of an agency review team? With Melody Barnes
During every presidential transition, flocks of people parachute into agencies across the federal government. From November to January, these agency review teams serve as the bridge between the president-elect and the mammoth organization they will soon oversee, relaying information back and forth to prepare for a smooth handoff of power. Organizing these teams is no small task, so today on “Transition Lab,” we speak with Melody Barnes, who co-led this work for former President Barack Obama’s 2008 transition, about what she learned.
Melody Barnes Partnership for Public Service
uva law headline
Former White House Officials Discuss How To Preserve Democracy on ‘Common Law’
Melody Barnes, executive director of UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, and John Bridgeland ’87, founder and executive chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, discuss their roles at the White House, how they became partners in several public policy efforts, and what Americans can do to strengthen democratic institutions and work together across differences.
John Bridgeland, Melody Barnes, Risa Goluboff University of Virginia School of Law
screenshot of USA Today headline and photograph showing police officer examining a car
Hate-fueled violence is ripping apart our cities and nation. We need to stop it.
Melody Barnes, the J. Wilson Newman professor of governance at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, writes that "a new movement is underway to address hate-fueled violence and affirm the bonds of mutual respect that make self-government possible."
Melody Barnes USA Today
screenshot of University of Virginia grounds
Nau Foundation’s $17 million gift supports Democracy Institute, teaching of history
“The Nau Foundation’s extraordinary generosity positions the Karsh Institute for impact on Grounds and beyond the University,” J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and executive director of the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy Melody Barnes said. “It enhances our ability to accelerate collaboration among UVA’s world-class schools, centers, faculty and students; develop unique and effective programming; and build meaningful local, state and national partnerships.”
Melody Barnes UVA Today
PBS NewsHour
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faces aggressive questioning on third day of Senate hearings
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faced a second day of questioning Wednesday by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor and former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, and Melody Barnes, executive director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, join Judy Woodruff to discuss.
Melody Barnes PBS NewsHour
CNN
LBJ: Triumph & Tragedy
LBJ: Triumph and Tragedy is a four-part CNN Original Series that offers a captivating look at one of the most consequential and enigmatic presidents in American history. Thrust into the presidency under tragic circumstances, LBJ used the office to pass the most significant civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. While managing to reshape the social fabric of the nation, he simultaneously escalated one America’s most controversial wars, that subsequently overshadowed his domestic accomplishments. LBJ: Triumph and Tragedy examines the larger-than-life figure full of fascinating contradictions, that left behind a complicated and polarizing legacy.
Melody Barnes CNN