Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

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.