Christopher "Kiff" Gallagher is an American musician, songwriter, and nonprofit administrator, noted for his work in public service.
In 1993, Gallagher helped to create AmeriCorps, then served as president of the Social Venture Network before leaving to pursue singing and songwriting. [1] He was never signed to a label, so decided to return to his background in public service. In 2008, his idea for a public service music education initiative was endorsed by then president-elect Barack Obama and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee. [2]
Gallagher subsequently became CEO and founder of the nonprofit Music National Service ("MNS"), which administers MusicianCorps, a program that recruits musicians to serve as music teachers. "MNS [initially] launched a domestic 'musical Peace Corps' called MusicianCorps in four cities – SF/Oakland Bay Area, Chicago, New Orleans and Seattle – where twenty MusicianCorps Fellows serve[d] full-time in public schools, parks and recreation centers, children’s and veteran's hospitals, public housing communities and elsewhere in return for a living stipend, health benefits and professional development." [3]
A 2008 Aspen Institute "Ideas Fellow," he graduated in 1991 from Wesleyan University with honors from the College of Letters.
James Logan Jones Jr. is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 21st United States National Security Advisor from 2009 to 2010. During his military career, he served as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps from July 1999 to January 2003, and Commander, United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2003 to 2006. Jones retired from the Marine Corps on February 1, 2007, after 40 years of service.
Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party.
Artur Genestre Davis is an American attorney and former politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Alabama's 7th congressional district from 2003 to 2011. He was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Alabama in the 2010 election. After losing in the primary, he moved to Virginia and joined the Republican Party. He rejoined the Democratic Party 2015 and 2017 in his two attempts to be elected Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama in the 2015 and 2019 elections, losing both times. He rejoined the Republican Party for one year in 2016.
Andrew L. Stern is the former president of the Service Employees International Union, and now serves as its President Emeritus.
John Learie Estrada is the former United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago and a former United States Marine who served as the 15th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007. Estrada stepped down from that post on April 25, 2007, turning over the billet to the next sergeant major, Carlton Kent. Estrada then retired from the military in June 2007, after over 33 years of service. He has also worked as a senior manager for Lockheed Martin Training Solutions from 2008 onward.
AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. The agency's mission is "to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering." While a government agency, AmeriCorps acts much like a foundation and is the nation's largest annual grant maker supporting service and volunteering. It was created by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. In September 2020, the agency rebranded itself as AmeriCorps, although its official name is unchanged.
Robert L. Kuttner is an American journalist and writer whose works present a liberal/progressive point of view. Kuttner is the co-founder and current co-editor of The American Prospect, which was created in 1990 as an "authoritative magazine of liberal ideas," according to its mission statement. He was a 20-year columnist for Business Week and The Boston Globe.
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones is an American news and political commentator, author, and lawyer. He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time New York Times bestselling author, a CNN host and contributor, and an Emmy Award winner.
The 2008 presidential campaign of John Edwards, former United States Senator from North Carolina and Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004 began on December 28, 2006 when he announced his entry into the 2008 presidential election in the city of New Orleans near sites devastated by Hurricane Katrina. On January 30, 2008, Edwards returned to New Orleans to announce that he was suspending his campaign for the Presidency. On May 14, 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Impact Online, also known as VolunteerMatch, is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization which provides a national digital infrastructure to serve volunteers and nonprofit organization in America. VolunteerMatch was founded in 1998.
College Possible is a nonprofit AmeriCorps organization making college admission and success possible for low-income students in the United States through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support. Its model uses recent college graduates serving an AmeriCorps term of service as near-peer mentors for students lacking the social resources to successfully enroll in and graduate from college. Headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the organization serves students in all 50 states with offices located in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area, Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha, Portland, Philadelphia and Seattle.
Joseph Francis Dunford Jr.KBE AO MSC OMRI is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general, who served as the 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2015, until September 30, 2019. He was the 36th commandant of the Marine Corps. Dunford is the first Marine Corps officer to serve in four different four-star positions; the others include commander of the International Security Assistance Force and United States Forces – Afghanistan from February 2013 until August 2014, and as the 32nd Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps from October 23, 2010, to December 15, 2012. He has commanded several units, including the 5th Marine Regiment during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC) was given by the Illinois State Senator, United States senatorial candidate, and future President Barack Obama on the night of Tuesday, July 27, 2004, in Boston, Massachusetts. His unexpected landslide victory in the March 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic primary made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party overnight, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father. His keynote address was well received, which further elevated his status within the Democratic Party and led to his reissued memoir becoming a bestseller.
Richard Rahul Verma is an Indian-American lawyer diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to India from 2014 to 2017. Verma previously served as the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs from 2009 to 2011. He is currently the executive vice president of global public policy and regulatory affairs at Mastercard, a position he has held since October 2020.
Aneesh Paul Chopra is an American executive who served as the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States. He was appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama and was at the White House through 2012. Chopra previously served as Virginia's Secretary of Technology under Governor Tim Kaine. Chopra was a candidate in 2013 for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is the author of Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government (2014) and co-founder and president of CareJourney. In 2015 he joined Albright Stonebridge Group as a senior advisor.
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
Aaron S. Williams is an international development expert and a former diplomat. He served as the 18th Director of the Peace Corps from 2009 to 2012 under President Barack Obama.
Nick Sinai is a venture capitalist, adjunct faculty at Harvard Kennedy School, author, and a former senior official in the Obama Administration.
Ted Gonder is an American entrepreneur and the co-founding CEO of Moneythink, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building the financial capability of young adults through technology-enhanced peer mentorship. Until July 2015, he was also a member of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.
The America First Policy Institute is an 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. It was created following the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 to promote the America First policy agenda of his administration. The organization describes its mission as "supporting key policy initiatives that will work for all citizens in our country and put America first".