Michael R. Wenger, of Mitchellville, Maryland, is Acting Vice President for Governance and Economic Analysis at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the nation's pre-eminent research and public policy analysis institution focusing on issues of race. His current responsibilities focus on coordinating the Joint Center's research and policy analysis activities, developing new program initiatives, and building mutually beneficial alliances with like-minded organizations. He also is an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology, specializing in race relations, at The George Washington University.

Mr. Wenger came to the Joint Center in October, 1998, and was the founder and Director of NABRE (Network of Alliances Bridging Race and Ethnicity), an initiative of the Joint Center. NABRE links approximately 200 race relations/racial justice organizations across the country for the purpose of facilitating communication and interaction, both electronic and face to face, among leaders of community-based racial reconciliation projects. The network's mission is to cultivate and nurture local leaders as they build and sustain alliances that break down and transcend barriers of race and ethnicity in all sectors of civil society and in communities across the country. Mr. Wenger also has served as the Joint Center's Acting Vice President for Communications and as a program consultant to the Joint Center.

From September, 1997 to October, 1998, Mr. Wenger served as the Deputy Director for Outreach and Program Development for President Clinton's Initiative on Race. He was responsible for the development and implementation of programs designed to broaden public support for President Clinton's vision of One America in the 21st Century--a more just, inclusive and unified America that offers opportunity and fairness for all Americans. Prior to his work with the President's Initiative on Race, Mr. Wenger served for more than 16 years as the States Washington Representative for the Appalachian Regional Commission, a Congressionally-funded agency charged with promoting economic development in the 13-state Appalachian region of the United States. In this capacity he represented the Governors of the 13 Appalachian states on policy and legislative matters relating to their membership on the Commission.

Before coming to Washington, D.C., Mr. Wenger held several policy-making positions, including Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Welfare and Commissioner of the Department of Employment Security, in the administration of West Virginia Governor John D. Rockefeller IV. He began his career as a journalist and public school teacher in New York City and then held leadership positions in the West Virginia anti-poverty program and with the City of Charleston, WV. He is the co-author of Window Pane Stories: Vignettes to Help You Look At and Beyond Your Experiences, a frequent speaker on race relations, and the author of numerous articles on race relations and on rural economic development.

Mr. Wenger was born in New York City and educated at Queens College of the City University of New York, where he was a leader in the civil rights struggles of the early 1960s. He is married and has three grown children and four grandchildren.

Speaking Topics

Coalition Building
Race Relations in the 21st Century
White Privilege and Diversity
President Clinton Initiative on Race

Television Appearances:

ViewPoint on NBC - Jan 28, 2007 (video)(download time depends on your internet connection speed)

Selected Published Works

• Rising African American Leaders: Challenges for a New Generation (Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 2006)
• Window Pane Stories: Vignettes to Help You Look At and Beyond Your Experiences, co- authored with Dr. Sidney B. Simon, (Writers Club Press, 2002)
• Racism in America: Making Our Deeds Match Our Creeds (The Values Realization Institute, 1990)
• Issues in Rural America (The Appalachian Regional Commission, 1988)
• The Status of Regionalism in the United States (International Institute of Admin. Sciences, 1983) Facilitating a Values Realization Workshop (The Values Realization Institute, 1983)