Heather McGhee is the immediate past president and now a distinguished senior fellow at Demos, advancing the vision of an equal say and an equal chance through her writing, public speaking and media appearances.
McGhee is writing a major book to be published in 2019 about the personal, economic and societal costs of racism to everyone in America, including white people. She serves as a contributor to NBC News and frequently appears on shows such as Meet the Press. Her opinions, writing and research have appeared in numerous outlets, including The New York Times, The Nation, and The Hill.
Over the years, McGhee’s work has had a profound influence on public policies addressing inequality. Her efforts at Demos as both staff member and president have led to achievements that include: landmark consumer protections to rein in credit card abuses and save consumers over $50 billion in fees; critical contributions to policies that rewrote the rules for how financial institutions operate; billions in wage increases at large companies and for government contractors; four million low-income voters registered at DMVs and public agencies; and pro-democracy reforms, such as public campaign financing, same-day registration, and automatic voter registration, won in a dozen states and Washington, D.C.
McGhee currently serves on multiple boards of trustees. She holds a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.