Biography

Holly Kuzmich serves as Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute. She oversees the strategy and management of the Institute, an action-oriented policy organization that works to create opportunity, strengthen our democracy, and advance free societies. She also oversees the Presidential Leadership Scholars program, a unique leadership development program in collaboration with the Clinton Foundation, George H.W. Bush Foundation, and Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.

Holly has over 20 years of public policy experience, serving in senior positions in the government, private, and non-profit sectors. She is a veteran of the White House, the U.S. Department of Education, and Capitol Hill, where she developed her expertise in education policy. She served in President Bush’s Administration for seven years, first on the staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council and then as Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, she worked for two United States Senators on domestic policy issues.  She has also consulted on education and workforce issues with major foundations, companies, non-profits, and policymakers. 

Holly served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School in the fall of 2021. She serves on the boards of the Gates Policy Initiative and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars. She is a Pahara-Aspen Institute Fellow, an alumnus of the Texas Lyceum, a member of the Ascend Fund’s Leadership Circle, and a senior advisor for Concordia. She received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.