With a history dedicated to research and education, Linda Chavez has proven she is not afraid to challenge the system.

With a focus on politics and the role of Hispanics from a conservative point of view, Chavez writes a weekly syndicated column that appears in newspapers across the country; she is also political analyst for FOX News. She the author of Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, which The Denver Post described as a book that "should explode the stereotypes about Hispanics that have clouded the minds of patronizing liberals and xenophobic conservatives alike." The work explores Hispanic achievements and progress and deals with such issues as immigration, affirmative action, bilingual education, and voting rights. Her authobiography, titled An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal, was published in 2001; her most recent work is Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics.

Previously, Chavez served as editor of the prize-winning quarterly journal American Educator (1977-1983), published by the American Federation of Teachers, where she also served as assistant to AFT president Al Shanker (1982-1983) and assistant director of legislation (1975-1977). She has held a number of appointed positions, among them Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and she was a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986. In 1992, Chavez was elected by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. In January 2001, she was President George W. Bush's nominee for Secretary of Labor until she withdrew her name from consideration.

Currently president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a non-profit public policy research organization in Washington, DC, Chavez also serves on the Board of Directors of ABM Industries, Inc., as well as on boards of several non-profit organizations, including The Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and the Foundation for Teaching Economics. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was Co-Chair of the Council's Committee on Diversity (1998-2000).

Called "an influential voice on civil rights policy" by The New York Times, Chavez has also been described by The Washington Post as one of "a new generation of intellectuals [seeking] to question the orthodoxies of the civil rights establishment." In 2000, she was honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" for her contributions to America's cultural and historical legacy.