Michael Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post and former policy advisor and speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

A leading figure in the evangelical intelligentsia movement, Gerson's op-ed columns appear twice weekly in the Washington Post and in nearly 100 other newspapers.  He is the author of Heroic Conservatism and co-author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era. He serves on the Initiative for Global Development Leadership Council, and the boards of the U.S. Center for Global Leadership, The News Literacy Project and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. He is the 2015 Pamela and Jack Egan Visiting Professor at Duke University. He appears regularly on the PBS NewsHour, Face the Nation and other programs.

Until 2006, Mr. Gerson was a top aide to President George W. Bush as Assistant to the President for Policy and Strategic Planning. He was a key administration advocate for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the fight against global sex trafficking, and funding for women’s justice and empowerment issues. Prior to that appointment, he served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Speechwriting and Assistant to the President for Speechwriting and Policy Advisor. Mr. Gerson joined Bush’s presidential campaign in early 1999 as chief speechwriter and a senior policy adviser.

He was previously a Senior Editor covering politics at U.S. News and World Report. Mr. Gerson was a speechwriter and policy adviser for Jack Kemp and a speechwriter for Bob Dole during the 1996 presidential campaign. He has also served Senator Dan Coats of Indiana as Policy Director.

Gerson is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois. He grew up in the St. Louis area and now lives with his wife and sons in northern Virginia.