Linda Tarr-Whelan

Linda Tarr-Whelan is the Distinguished Senior Fellow on Women’s Leadership at Demos, a network for ideas and action based in New York City. Demos works with advocates and policymakers around the country in pursuit of four overarching goals: a more equitable economy, a vibrant and inclusive democracy, an empowered public sector that works for the common good, and responsible U.S. engagement in an interdependent world.

Tarr-Whelan has had a varied career as a nurse, management consultant, advocate, non-profit leader, communicator, union negotiator and government official at the state, national and international levels.

She formerly served as Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in the Clinton Administration and as Deputy Assistant for Women’s Concerns in the Carter White House. She was the first nurse appointed to these positions.

Her policy experience also included a sub-cabinet appointment in New York State government, director of policy for a large public sector union and chief lobbyist for the National Education Association. As CEO of the Center for Policy Alternatives, the leading progressive policy and leadership center for the 50 states, she focused on women and the economy. She and her husband created a successful international management consultancy that worked with leaders of foundations, non-profits and international organizations.

She is a co-founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), the Center for Women in Government at SUNY Albany, and Quantum Leaps, Inc. Ladies Home Journal named her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Washington.

Linda began her career as a nurse and holds a BSN from Johns Hopkins, an MS from the University of Maryland, and honorary PhDs from Chatham University in Pittsburg and Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Linda and her husband Keith, who have two adult children and four grandchildren, live on St. Helena Island, SC.