Anita Bevacqua McBride

Anita McBride served as Assistant to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush from January 2005 to January 2009. Mrs. McBride's White House service spans two decades and three administrations. Under President George W. Bush, Mrs. McBride served as Senior Advisor in the State Department's Bureau of International Organizations in 2004 where she was responsible for recruiting American candidates for positions in the United Nations agencies. As the Department's Senior Advisor to the Secretary and White House Liaison from 2001 to 2003, Mrs. McBride helped shepherd presidential appointees through the confirmation process, and oversaw the selection of American delegations to international summits and conferences. Prior to joining the State Department, Mrs. McBride also served as Special Assistant to the President for White House Management in 2001 - overseeing six administrative and operational units in direct support of the President, First Lady, and White House Staff. She joined the Reagan Administration in 1984, and from 1987 to 1992, Mrs. McBride was Director of White House Personnel under Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush. The daughter of Italian immigrants, Mrs. McBride was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She received her B.A. in International Studies from the University of Connecticut in 1981, and studied international relations and foreign languages at the American University in Washington, D.C. and the University of Florence in Italy. Mrs. McBride also serves as Executive in Residence at the Center for Presidential and Congressional Studies in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, DC and is directing the planning for a conference that will examine the role of American First Ladies through U.S. history and their impact on politics, policy and global diplomacy.