The Heritage Foundation inducted Kay Coles James as its sixth president in a welcoming ceremony at the foundation’s Capitol Hill headquarters on Monday, February 5.

The Heritage Foundation is the country’s largest conservative think tank and has played an integral role in policy formation during Republican administrations.

“Conservatives must persevere in gracefully countering misinformation from the left that convinces too many Americans liberal policies will improve their lives,” the new president of The Heritage Foundation said Monday night in a speech laying out her vision for the leading think tank.

James said Heritage will reach out purposefully to Americans of all backgrounds “who really are conservative, but just don’t know it yet.”

“Unfortunately, many Americans are misinformed,” Kay Coles James said. “Like us, they want liberty, equality, opportunity, but unlike us, they mistakenly believe that those ideals can be achieved by the failed policies of the left.”

Heritage billed the speech, entitled “Imagine America: A Pathway Forward for All Americans,” as an outline of James’ vision not just for the leading conservative think tank but for the nation as a whole.

Well-known Washington figures such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Ben Carson and Senator Ted Cruz attended the ceremony.

James, the first African-American to hold the post, served as director of the Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush and in Ronald Reagan’s Department of Health and Human Services. She also served as Virginia’s secretary of health and human resources and as a member of the state board of education.

Heritage’s board of trustees unanimously elected James after an extensive search. The board of directors sifted through more than 200 resumes before settling on James, who has been a member of the organization’s board since 2005.

“We ended up with one of our own, and we’re very proud indeed that Kay is our new leader,” Feulner told reporters.

James succeeds interim president, Ed Feulner, who temporarily took the reins in May after the board of directors fired Jim DeMint, the former South Carolina senator who had been leading the organization since 2012.