Amira Barger

Amira Barger is an award-winning Executive Vice President of Communications and Change Management, offering senior counsel on reputation management and strategic communications to clients worldwide. She is also the author of The Price of Nice: Why Comfort Keeps Us Stuck—And 4 Actions for Real Change (coming October 28, 2025), a bold examination of “niceness” as a harmful social construct that upholds inequity—and a rallying call for those ready to create real, lasting change.

Recently named 2024 Woman of the Year by Women Health Care Executives, Amira has also been recognized as one of 50/50 Women on Boards' Top 50 Women to Watch for 2024–2025, Involve People’s Top 100 Executives, CMO Alliance’s Top CMOs of 2024, Top 50 Global DEI Professionals by OnConferences, Mogul’s Top 100 People Leaders, Leaderology’s Fearlessly Authentic Leaders, and Business Insider’s 30 Under 40 in Healthcare Innovation.

A scholar, practitioner, and thought leader, Amira brings more than 20 years of expertise in strategic communications, mobilizing communities, influencing stakeholders, and driving action. She has global experience in pharma/healthcare communications, corporate branding, media relations, sustainability/social impact, reputation management, and DEI, with M&A and crisis communications expertise. Throughout her career, she has advised and led strategies for CVS Health, Eli Lilly, Walgreens, Hologic, Genentech, Pfizer, GSK/Haleon, BMS, Zoetis, Alkermes, Regeneron, Amgen, Medtronic, Children’s Miracle Network, Kaiser Permanente, First 5 Los Angeles, Covered California, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FEMA, and California Community Colleges.

A dedicated educator, Amira serves as a Professor of Marketing, Communications, and Change Management at California State University East Bay, where she joined the faculty in 2019. She also lectures at UCSF. A data-informed organizational architect, she leverages design thinking to advance DEI and solve complex challenges.

Before joining Edelman, Amira was Senior Vice President, Public Relations and Public Affairs at Ogilvy, where she led efforts to help government, corporate, and nonprofit clients adopt equity-centered practices to reach historically underserved communities. She also spent 14 years in the nonprofit sector, tackling pressing public issues with organizations such as the Public Health Institute, Feeding America, and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

Amira holds a B.A. in Marketing from Vanguard University and an MBA from Letourneau University. She has further invested in her expertise by earning DEI certifications from Cornell University, the University of South Florida, and SDS Global Enterprises Inc.. A lifelong learner, she has also achieved the CVA (Certified Volunteer Administrator) and CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) designations.

Amira is an avid writer, regularly contributing thought leadership through bylines, webinars, and podcasts. Explore her work here: https://www.clippings.me/amirabarger

Passionate about community service and equity, she serves on the boards of By the Bay Health, Dining Out for Life International, the Journalistic Learning Initiative, the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration, the Valero-Benicia Refinery Community Advisory Board, and the City of Benicia Commission United for Racial Equity.

In her spare time, Amira and her family are #RoadTripWarriors, working their way through the National Park Service Passport Cancellation Book in a quest to visit all 417 national parks and monuments in the U.S.. She lives in Benicia, CA, with Jonathan, her life partner of 20+ years, their daughter Audrey, and their furry sons—Bucky, a blue-eyed silver Labrador, and Potato, a toy poodle.