Genevieve Wood -  Former Guest Speaker at the Leadership Institute

Genevieve Wood is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at The Heritage Foundation.

In this first-of-its-kind position at Heritage, Wood coordinates long-term and short-term strategies  in the media, on Capitol Hill and at the grassroots level to educate congressional and White House staffers about the think tank's key issues.

Before joining Heritage in 2006, Wood worked for more than 14 years in Washington politics, policy and media. In 2005, she launched her own media training and video production company, W Media. She has provided media training and speech coaching since 1999 for numerous members of congress, political candidates, book authors, state legislators, organizational spokesmen and public policy analysts. 

Her partial client list includes: Heritage, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Cato Institute, Focus on the Family, Freedom Alliance, Manhattan Institute, Penguin Books and the Susan B. Anthony List.  She also conducts public speaking and communications workshops for grassroots organizations nationwide.

From 1991 until 2004, Wood worked in a number of media-related positions for such organizations and companies as Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Va., National Public Radio's Los Angeles affiliate KCRW, NBC News in New York and the Republican National Committee in Washington.  In these positions, her responsibilities covered the communications spectrum – from staff management and overseeing video production facilities to communications strategy and producing/anchoring both television and radio political talk shows.

In 2000, Campaigns & Elections magazine named Wood a "rising star in politics." She is a frequent political commentator on CNN, FOX and MSNBC.  She has appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Today," ABC's "Politically Incorrect," C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" and PBS' "To the Contrary."

Wood graduated in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in history from the College of Charleston in South Carolina.  She lives in Washington, D.C. and is a native of Texarkana, Texas.

Genevieve Wood