Bernie Swain

Bernie Swain is an American businessman and author. He is the co-founder with Paula Swain and Harry Rhoads Jr. of Washington Speakers Bureau, a lecture agency which represents many prestigious authors, politicians, journalists, athletes, and business leaders.

Swain grew up in Arlington, Virginia. His father was a taxi dispatcher and his mother worked at a drugstore. He attended George Washington University, earning a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Education.

After graduation, Swain worked as the assistant athletics director at George Washington. In 1980 he came across an article about the Harry Walker Agency, which was at the time the largest speakers bureau in the world. Swain's interest was piqued by founder Harry Walker's claim that he had no competitors.

Swain left his job to found the Washington Speakers Bureau with his wife Paula and friend Harry Rhoads. Business was slow the first year, in part because Walker's claim about a lack of competition in the speakers bureau business was false.

Washington Speakers Bureau signed its first client, Good Morning America anchor Steve Bell, luring him away from the Harry Walker Agency. Other journalists began to sign with the agency, attracted by the ability to work with them without signing a contract.

In 1989, former President Ronald Reagan selected Washington Speakers Bureau to represent him. More prestigious clients soon followed, including Margaret Thatcher, General Norman Schwarzkopf, and President George H.W. Bush.

In 2016 Savio Hill published Swain's book What Made Me Who I Am, a collection of interviews with 34 successful leaders Swain met through Washington Speakers Bureau. The book explores the formative experiences and turning points in the lives of its subjects. People featured in the book include Tom Brokaw, Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw, and Condoleezza Rice.

Swain published an article in the Harvard Business Review in September 2016, Successful Leaders Know What Made Them Who They Are. He has been covered by The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, WNYC Brian Lehrer show, and more.