Citizen Engagement and Political Civility with Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer

Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse and founder of AmericaSpeaks. Under Carolyn’s leadership, AmericaSpeaks has earned a national reputation as a leader in the field of deliberative democracy and democratic renewal. The organization has successfully applied its 21st Century Town Meeting® to a number of health care-related topics, including, state-wide health care reform in California and Maine, and the national childhood obesity epidemic. Prior to founding AmericaSpeaks, Carolyn served as Consultant to the White House Chief of Staff from November 1993 through June 1994, as the Deputy Project Director for Management of the National Performance Review (NPR), Vice President Al Gore's reinventing government task force, and as Chief of Staff to Governor Richard F. Celeste of Ohio from 1986 to 1991. She also led her own successful organizational development and management consulting firm for 14 years. In this capacity, she worked with public and private sector organizations on four continents.