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Vanessa Brown Calder

Director of Opportunity and Family Policy Studies

Vanessa Brown Calder is director of opportunity and family policy studies at the Cato Institute, where she focuses on policies that support family and increase opportunity.

Previously, Calder was executive director and staff director at the US Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), where she led the committee’s research and congressional hearing efforts under chairman and ranking member Mike Lee (R‑UT).

Prior to those roles, Calder was deputy director and senior policy adviser at JEC, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, and a graduate fellow in welfare studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Calder has published articles in the Wall Street Journal, CNN​.com, National Review Online, Governing, and RealClearHealth. She has been featured in radio and television programming and policy briefings on Capitol Hill.

Calder is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Utah with a BS in urban planning. She also has an MPP from the Kennedy School at Harvard University.

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