Michelle D. Bernard is the president and CEO of the Independent Women's Forum (IWF) and an MSNBC political analyst. Bernard is a regular panelist with MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and The McLaughlin Group, a Sunday columnist with The Examiner, and a political commentator for The Hill's Congress Blog.
Ms. Bernard, author of the Women's Progress: How Women are Wealthier, Healthier, and More Independent than Ever Before (Spence Publishing) and is a contributing author to the National Urban League's State of Black America (2009) and Lifetime Network's Secrets of Powerful Women: 25 Successful American Politicians Tell How They Got Where They Are - And What It's Like (Hyperion Books/February 2010.)
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 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 Fast Company magazine, The Legal Times, 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.