Melody Barnes

Melody C. Barnes (born April 29, 1964) is an American lawyer and political advisor. Formerly an aide and chief counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barnes later worked at the Center for American Progress, a think tank, before joining Senator Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. When Obama became president, Barnes was appointed director of the Domestic Policy Council, serving from January 2009 to January 2012. Barnes then assumed roles at the Aspen Institute and New York University. Since 2016, she has been at the University of Virginia (UVA), 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. Her father Charles H. Barnes Jr. was a civilian employee of the U.S. Army, and her mother Mary Frances Rogers Barnes (1934–2014) was a teacher.

Barnes earned her BA with honors in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1986 and her JD from the University of Michigan Law School in 1989. 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 institutions. In the latter role, Barnes worked on the Voting Rights Improvement Act of 1992.

From 2003 to July 2008, Barnes was at the Center for American Progress, a think tank. She was executive vice president for policy at the center from 2005 to 2008. She worked under CEO John D. Podesta, who later served as co-chairman of the Obama-Biden transition team.

Barnes was one of several African-American women in important Obama administration positions, along with Valerie Jarrett, Mona Sutphen, Susan Rice and Cassandra Butts.

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), Pete Rouse and Jeanne Lambrew (Senator Tom Daschle), Phil Schiliro (formerly aide to Representative Henry Waxman), and Lisa Konwinski (former aide to Senator Kent Conrad). Paul Starr 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.

Barnes is chair of the Aspen Institute's Forum for Community Solutions.

In 2013,

Awards and honors In 2016, Barnes received the "Strong Men & Women in Virginia History" award from the Library of Virginia 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., in Washington.

In 2007, Barnes was featured in a Washingtonian magazine list of ten well-dressed Washington women.