Laura Cunliffe is a senior fellow at Independent Women’s Forum focusing on issues of administrative reform and regulatory change.

Before joining IWF, Laura served as Executive Director and Vice President of Policy at Family Watch International (FWI), an international education organization with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations and as Co-Chair of the Protect Child Health Coalition (PCHC).

Before joining Family Watch, Laura served in several positions in the Trump Administration—most recently as Chief of Staff to Ambassador Andrew P. Bremberg at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, where she was responsible for overseeing U.S. policy priorities related to workforce development, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and global health. Cunliffe also served at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as Associate Director for Education, Income Maintenance and Labor (EIML), responsible for budget and policy priorities at the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service and the Social Security Administration.

Additionally, Laura led the Legislative Review Division at OMB as the Associate Director for Administration Positions, responsible for coordinating the White House interagency policy process to prepare and approve all government-wide legislative proposals, Statements of Administration Policy (SAPs), and Agency testimonies to Congress. Before joining OMB, Laura served as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy at the Domestic Policy Council at the White House, working on welfare reform, foster and adoption care, and disability issues.

Prior to serving in the Trump Administration, Laura was a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) and policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working on child nutrition issues such as the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Community Eligibility Provision, and Local School Wellness Policies. During her fellowship, she also worked at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, focusing on implementing Race to the Top grants at the district and state levels.

Cunliffe began her career as a Teach for America teacher and taught middle-school English Language Arts in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School (CMS) District in North Carolina. During her tenure, she received several awards and accolades for student performance, was a TFA Teacher Training Leader for incoming first-year teachers, and was a 2008-09 Center for Reinventing School Boards School Board Fellow.

Cunliffe received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College in Illinois and her Juris Doctor from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She resides with her husband and two children in New Jersey and is active in her children’s school, local community, and church.