Nancy Bocskor -  Volunteer Faculty at the Leadership Institute

Nancy Bocskor, tagged a “Democracy Coach” by a major German newspaper, “spreads democracy throughout the world... coaching candidates on how to win elections, especially encouraging women to make it into parliament.” She recently joined Business for America as Director of Development, a non-partisan, non-profit focused on engaging corporate leaders to promote civic engagement and preserve democracy. (BFA.us)

Bocskor launched her career in Washington, D.C. after college, starting as a legislative correspondent and culminating as a Chief of Staff on Capitol Hill by her early 30s. In 1990, she started her own consulting business which has taken her to all 50 states and 28 countries.

Bocskor has developed programs for the National Federation of Independent Business, a network of more than 600,000 small businesses, and has keynoted at conferences for the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Ohio Business and Professional Women’s Association and numerous others.

As the inaugural director of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at Texas Woman’s University, she created the vision to honor pioneering women in Texas politics and policy, commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment, and launched programs to increase women’s political participation.

While at TWU, Bocskor was selected as a Robert J. Dole Institute Fellow at the University of Kansas, where she coordinated a course on “Women, Democracy & Global Politics” during the fall of 2019. For her work promoting civic engagement in emerging democracies, Newman’s Own Foundation named her as one of their prestigious “Newmanitarians” in 2020.

She’s the author of “Go Fish: How to Catch (and Keep) Contributors: A Practical Guide to Fundraising”, based on her experience as a fundraising strategist and practitioner for political campaigns, non-profits, and associations. She teaches Fundraising and other courses, including “Women, Democracy & Global Politics” at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, the University of San Francisco, and American University.

Bocskor is a frequent political analyst for media outlets, writes op-eds reimagining politics and public service for national publications such as The Hill, and is regularly invited to give keynote presentations and moderate panels focusing on democracy, redefining political leadership, the role of women in activism, as well as the rise of authoritarianism at leading organizations such as The Texas Lyceum at the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M and the Open World Program sponsored by the U.S. Congress, as well as on behalf of the U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassies, universities and NGOs on six continents.

Nancy Bocskor