Megan Beyer

Megan Carroll Beyer (born June 5, 1957)[1] is an American journalist, activist, and lifelong advocate of women’s rights and gender issues. Beyer is the Director of the Office of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022. She has served as an advisor to many arts and civic organizations, including Civic Nation, the American Film Institute, and the Better Angels Society.

Megan Beyer
Megan Carroll Beyer in 2018
Director of the Office of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State
Assumed office
2022
Second Lady of Virginia
In office
January 13, 1990 – January 17, 1998
Personal details
Born
Megan Carroll

(1957-06-05) June 5, 1957
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Spouse
​
(m. 1987)​
EducationUniversity of Richmond
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • activist

Early life

Beyer was born in 1957 and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, to family physician Frank A. Carroll and his wife Suzanne Clarke Carroll, both of Scranton, Pennsylvania. She graduated magna cum laude in 1979 from the University of Richmond, majoring in journalism.

Career

News media

In 1984, Beyer began her career as a reporter covering education and politics for local and national television news programs. She was a regular contributor to Tamedia newspapers in Switzerland from 2010 to 2013. In the U,S., her essays are found on Motherhood Movement Online, Role ReBoot the Alexandria Times, and the Huffington Post. She is a regular panelist on PBS's To the Contrary, the only national television program devoted to women's issues.[2] She has been a frequent columnist in various publications, including the Alexandria Times[3] and Times Community Newspapers, a chain in Northern Virginia.[4]

Advocacy

In 2010, Beyer founded the bilateral Swiss-U.S. project, Sisters Republics, which accelerates private market drivers to break the glass ceiling.[5] In 2012, she led a study on behalf of the George Washington University Global Women's Initiative, "Gender Equality in Employment: Policies and Practices in Switzerland and the U.S."[6] It offered a comparative analysis of gender workplace issues affecting women in Switzerland and the United States, and included original research based on a poll of more than 1,000 Swiss workers. Beyer also served as the External Relations Representative for the Swiss-based EDGE Gender Certification, a company that certifies companies achieving a global standard of gender certification.

Tenure as PCAH executive director

Beyer served as executive director of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH) from 2015 to January 2017.[7][8] During her tenure, the Committee co-hosted the "South by South Lawn" event at the White House, and negotiated the transition of the Committee's TurnAround Arts program to the Kennedy Center.

2016 U.S. cultural mission to Cuba

In April 2016, one month after President Obama’s historic visit to Havana, Beyer led a delegation of U.S. arts leaders to Cuba, that resulted in 15 bilateral agreements. The trip, coordinated with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Smithsonian Institution, resulted in an array of collaborations between U.S. and Cuban cultural agencies. In addition to a series of ten bilateral meetings between U.S. and Cuban cultural officials, U.S. artists and art leaders visited Cuban schools, studios, theaters and historic institutions. Some of America’s most iconic artists participated in these visits, including Usher, Smokey Robinson, Kal Penn, Joshua Bell, Alfre Woodard, Dave Matthews, John Guare, John Lloyd Young and others. The final day, the delegation publicly announced agreement on six collaborations, the first government-to-government agreement after Obama's extended hand of friendship to the Cuban people at the Grand Teatro in Havana.[9]

Arts outreach to under-performing schools

A program called Turnaround Arts, funded mostly by donations from businesses and private foundations with support from government sources, sought to help some of the worst-performing schools in America. Stars such as Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma and Cameron Diaz united to help failing pupils across the United States. An independent study showed scores increased at targeted school by 23% in math and a 13% in reading in three years.[10]

Report to the president

Beyer presented the 2009-16 PCAH report to the White House, summarizing accomplishments of the Obama administration's contributions to expanding cultural activities in the United States.[11]

Awards and past community service

Over the past 25 years Beyer has served on more than a dozen national, state and local boards. She served as Finance Chair on the Virginia State Board for Community Colleges;[12] on the board of the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education;[13] as a trustee of Washington's public television station, WETA-TV;[14] and on the national board of Reading Is Fundamental.[15] She held leadership positions in the Obama presidential campaign, including as Mid Atlantic finance chair for Women for Obama; as a member of the leadership committee of Women for Obama in Virginia;[16] as a member of the National Finance Committee; and as co-chair of the National Women's Leadership Initiative Conference;[17] and as Chair of the Women's Leadership Forum at the Democratic National Committee.

Beyer received two Emmy nominations and a Virginia Associated Press award for her work at WTVR in Richmond. In May 2008, she was commencement speaker at Blue Ridge Community College.[18] Her lifelong involvement in civic affairs includes service on the boards of the Virginia-Israel Commission; the Woodlawn Plantation; the Athenaeum, an historic property in Alexandria, Virginia; Prevent Blindness Mid-Atlantic; the Medical Care for Children Partnership, a project in Fairfax County, Virginia; the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts; the Richmond Ballet; and Theatre IV, a stage production company in Richmond. In 1996, Beyer co-chaired, with Lynda Johnson Robb, Every Child by Two, a project to immunize children in Virginia. She has been active in NARAL at the state and national levels, and in 2006 was honorary co-chair of NARAL's national fundraiser.[19] Beyer spoke at the United Nations World Economic Ideas Sessions on gender equality, participated in the Geena Davis Gender in the Media panel on Women in Film, and served on a US Institute of Peace panel on gender issues in the Middle East. She spoke at the 2014 Obama White House Summit on Working Families.

Current activities

Beyer serves as an advisor to a range of arts and civic organizations, including Civic Nation, the American Film Institute, and the Better Angels Society.[20][21] She serves on the board of the Wilson Center's Women and Public Service Project, the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, the Library of Congress, The John W. Kluge Center Advisory Group, and Meridian International. She is a member of the International Women's Forum, is an advisory board member of Equal AI, and was appointed by the Virginia governor to serve on the Virginia Humanities Board. She is a partner in several real estate ventures and holds an interest in the Beyer Automotive Group with dealerships in Alexandria, Falls Church and Dulles.[12]

Personal life

Beyer resides in Old Town, Alexandria, VA, with her husband, U.S. Representative Don Beyer. She is the mother of Clara and Grace, and stepmother of Stephanie Beyer Kirby and Don Beyer III.

References
  1. U.S. Public Records Index, Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. "PBS To the Contrary Beyer biography". Pbs.org. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  3. "Megan Beyer". Shesource.org. The Women's Media Center. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  4. "Times Community Newspapers website". Timescommunity.com. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  5. "U.S. Embassy Bern website". Archived from the original on February 17, 2013. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  6. "GWU policy study news release, March 6, 2012". Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  7. "News release announcing appointment to PCAH, retrieved November 12, 2017". Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  8. "PCAH staff listing, retrieved November 2017". Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  9. "President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities website, retrieved November 12, 2017". Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  10. Huffington Post, "How the U.S. put Elton John, Yo Yo Ma and Cameron Diaz to Work in the Country’s Worst Schools," May 12, 2016, retrieved November 12, 2017
  11. "Report to the President, 2009-16, by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, retrieved November 12, 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 19, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  12. "Virginia's Community Colleges website". Myfuture.vccs.edu. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  13. "Virginia Foundation for Community College Education, Board of Directors, 2008–09". Myfuture.vccs.edu. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  14. "WETA website, officers and trustees". Weta.org. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  15. Reading Is Fundamental, Board of Directors, website Archived May 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. "Washington Post, February 6, 2008". Blog.washingtonpost.com. February 6, 2008. Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  17. Sweet, Lynn. "Chicago Sun Times, September 9, 2008". Blogs.suntimes.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  18. Blue Ridge Community College newsletter, Summer 2008 Archived May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  19. NARAL Pro Choice America website, 2006 dinner Archived October 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  20. LinkedIn profile, retrieved September 2, 2018
  21. Civic Nation website, retrieved April 19, 2017
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