About Me - My Biography

Linda Tarr-Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow and Director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at Demos, a US national progressive think tank.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping up to Leadership and Changing the World (Berrett-Koehler, 2009 and 2011). She is also Chair of the National Women’s Advisory Council for Pax World Resources. Linda served as Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in the Clinton Administration, Deputy Assistant to President Jimmy Carter for Women’s Concerns in the White House and a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Trade Policy and Negotiations.

Named as one of the 50 most powerful women in Washington by Ladies Home Journal, her career has included government, unions and NGO’s including as President/CEO of the Center for Policy Alternatives, and as Managing Partner of Tarr-Whelan & Associates, Inc, an international management consultancy. She appears frequently nationally and internationally as a speaker, writer, media commentator and blogger (www.lindatarrwhelan.com) on Huffington Post, the Washington Post, Bloomberg News, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, and Newsday.

She began her career as a nurse and holds a BSN from Johns Hopkins, MS from the University of Maryland and honorary PhD’s from Chatham University and Plymouth State University.  She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Linda and Keith Tarr-Whelan live on St. Helena Island, SC and Burlington, VT. They have two adult children and four grandchildren.