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Jennifer Marshall
As Director of Domestic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, Jennifer A. Marshall oversees research in areas that determine the character of our culture: education, marriage, family, religion, and civil society.
Marshall directs the think tank’s Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society and manages familyfacts.org, an online catalog of social science research relating to family and religious practice.
Marshall also works with other Heritage analysts to explore how moral values and civil society relate to issues like limited government, consumer-driven health care, and foreign policy. Her papers often reflect this integrated approach, covering topics like the patients’ freedom of conscience in health care, or the case against United Nations’ involvement in social issues.
Marshall has spoken at national and international forums, testified before Congress, and appeared on radio and television shows, such as C-SPAN’s premier talk show, “Washington Journal” and Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes.”
Marshall is the author of Now and Not Yet: Making Sense of Single Life in the Twenty-First Century (Multnomah Publishers, June 2007). The book evaluates the cultural, practical, and spiritual issues that marriage-minded young women confront as the age of first marriage continues to rise in America.
Before joining Heritage in 2003, Marshall worked on cultural policy issues at Empower America, another Washington-based think tank. Before that, she was Senior Director of Family Studies at the Family Research Council and taught at an American school in Lyon, France.
Marshall holds a master’s degree in statecraft and world politics from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor’s degree in French from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., where she also earned teacher’s certification. She lives in Arlington, Va....
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Ryan Messmore
Ryan Messmore is the William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Society at The Heritage Foundation.
As the Simon Fellow, Messmore examines how religious commitments are brought to bear on political life in an effort to improve public discourse and strengthen civil society. In December 2006, for example, he wrote an essay for FOXNews.com that examined charitable giving and government policy.
“Public policy should reflect the importance of charity in America,” Messmore wrote. “[W]hen it comes to economic inequality, liberal political opinions seem to substitute for private action. Because research reveals that giving leads to greater prosperity and a higher quality of life for the poor, the national debate concerning poverty should consider the significance of private charity in addressing this question.”
Before joining Heritage in 2006, Messmore was the head of Trinity Forum Academy, a program that he designed and oversaw since 2001. Located in Royal Oak, Md., the academy offers recent college graduates a nine-month residential program of advanced course work in a variety of cultural policy and religious studies. Messmore had been the academy's Director since its inception.
Messmore holds a master’s degree in theology from Cambridge University. He also has degrees from Duke Divinity School and Duke University.
He lives with his wife, Karin, and three children in Maryland....
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Chuck Donovan
Charles A. "Chuck" Donovan brings more than three decades at the forefront of national debates on strengthening families and protecting life to a new role as Senior Research Fellow in The Heritage Foundation's DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society.
Donovan focuses on policy research, writing and issue development to advance the fundamental institutions of family and religion.
He arrived at Heritage in August 2009 as a 20-year veteran of leadership and policy roles at the Family Research Council, most recently serving nearly five years as executive vice president. As a principal architect of FRC, Donovan was instrumental in its rise as a leading U.S. research and policy organization for family issues. He served as acting chief executive officer from 1999 to 2001, before starting the policy consulting firm Donovan and Associates. Over the years, his policy work has ranged from the right to life and welfare reform to bioethics and human trafficking.
Donovan has drafted, advocated or testified in favor of landmark pro-family legislation such as family choice in child care, the $500-per-child tax credit, the Defense of Marriage Act, marriage tax penalty relief and anti-pornography measures, including online protections for children. He founded the Coalition for Family-Friendly Media, a network of national groups that campaigned for "cable choice" and enforcement of broadcast decency laws.
Donovan first joined FRC after eight years of putting his research and communication skills to work for President Ronald Reagan, originally as a writer at the White House and eventually moving up to deputy director of presidential correspondence. He prepared and edited letters, proclamations, policy papers and commentaries for President Reagan.
From 1978 to 1981, Donovan was legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.
Donovan is the author or co-author of several books and a host of monographs on family topics. Appearances on national radio and television include CNN's Inside Politics and ABC's Nightline as well as programs on FOX, BBC, NPR and CBN. His articles and commentaries, both under his own name and those of public figures, have been published in newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Cincinnati Enquirer, San Diego Union and National Catholic Register, and in magazines such as Reader's Digest, Weekly Standard, American Legion, World Magazine, American Library Journal and Focus on the Family's Citizen.
A native of Louisville, Ky., Donovan grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in English at the University of Notre Dame.
He and his wife, Meg, reside in Manassas, Va. They have two daughters and two sons. ...