Senate Confirms
Bipartisan Leaders to Corporation for National and Community Service Board
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate last night
confirmed leaders from the nonprofit, civic, and corporate sectors to serve on
the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community
Service (CNCS), the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps, Senior
Corps, the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), and other national service programs.
The new board members are: Rick Christman of Lexington, Ky.; Mona Dixon
of Tempe, Ariz.; Victoria Hughes of Millwood, Va.; Eric Liu of Seattle, Wash.;
Dean A. Reuter of Washington, D.C.; and Shamina Singh of Purchase, N.Y.
“I thank President Obama for nominating these
outstanding individuals, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and
Minority Leader Harry Reid for working together to confirm them,” said Wendy Spencer,
CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “These nominees are
all leaders in their respective fields, and I am grateful they have now agreed
to help lead us in creating more opportunities for Americans to make an impact
in their community through service. This bipartisan board is a shining example
of what can happen when people work together to get things done.”
The board sets overall policy and direction for
CNCS and its programs. CNCS engages five million Americans of all ages and
backgrounds, including 75,000 AmeriCorps members and 260,000 Senior Corps
volunteers, in results-driven service each year. CNCS also includes a shared
federal-state partnership, providing a central role for governors in designing
and implementing national service through governor-supported State Service
Commissions. In addition, the agency leads the effort to encourage Americans to
volunteer in their communities during the Martin Luther
King Jr. Day of Service and
the September
11th National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The new board members will assume their positions
as the agency builds on considerable momentum. This year, a bipartisan group of 2,786 mayors and county
leaders that collectively represents 150 million Americans participated in the
third-annual Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service. The public-private partnerships created as part of
the President’s Task Force on Expanding National Service generated $35 million
in outside resources that helped create approximately 4,500 new opportunities
for individuals to serve in AmeriCorps, a program in which more than 900,000
Americans have participated in since it was created 20 years ago.
In just a few years, the SIF and its
private-sector partners have invested $177.6 federal million in federal grants
plus $500 million in non-federal match commitments to 217 nonprofits in 37
states and Washington, D.C. This funding
is tied to programs that are producing clear results for taxpayers and
beneficiaries.
The biographies of the new board members follow:
Rick
Christman – Lexington, Ky.
Nominated March 19, 2015; term expires Oct. 6, 2017
Mr. Rick Christman serves as Chief Executive
Officer of Employment Solutions in Lexington, KY. Mr. Christman has been with
Employment Solutions for 25 years. During that time, the company has grown to
include a food processing business, a box manufacturing business, and a
document destruction business all of which employ people with developmental
disabilities. Mr. Christman has been a member of the CNCS Board of Directors
since March 29, 2012. He has a Bachelor's degree in Special Education from the
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, and a Masters in Vocational Rehabilitation
from the University Of Wisconsin, Stout.
Mona
Dixon – Tempe, Ariz.
Nominated Jan. 8, 2015; term expiring Oct. 6, 2018
Mona Dixon is a graduate student at Arizona State
University where she is pursuing a master’s degree in Communication Studies
with an emphasis in Advocacy. She serves on the board for the Boys and Girls
Clubs of the East Valley – Tempe Ladmo Branch. Previously, she served on the
board for UMOM New Day Centers, the largest homeless shelter in Arizona. Ms.
Dixon received a Bachelor of Science and Business Management from Arizona State
University.
Victoria
Hughes – Millwood, Va.
Nominated Jan. 8, 2015; term expires Oct. 6, 2016
Victoria Hughes currently serves as Director of
Development at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, a position she has
held since 2013. Ms. Hughes was Vice President for Development at the
Reason Foundation and Executive Vice President of A.C. Fitzgerald &
Associates from 2010 to 2012. She was Founding President and Senior
Advisor at the Bill of Rights Institute from 1999 to 2010. From 1994 to
1999, she was Vice President for Grants at the Charles G. Koch, Claude R.
Lambe, Fred and Mary Koch Foundations and Director of Corporate Philanthropy at
Koch Industries, Inc. She began her career as a classroom teacher in
Cincinnati, Boston, and Washington, D.C. and currently serves on the Board of
Trustees at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. Ms. Hughes received
a B.S. from the University of Dayton.
Eric
Liu – Seattle, Wash.
Nominated Jan. 8, 2015; expiring Dec. 27, 2017
Eric Liu is the founder and CEO of Citizen
University, and Director of the Aspen Institute Citizenship and American
Identity Program. He previously was Vice President of Corporate
Communications at RealNetworks from 2000 to 2002. From 1999 to 2000, he
served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy at the White
House. Mr. Liu served as Speechwriter and Director of Legislative Affairs
for the National Security Council at the White House from 1993 to 1994.
Mr. Liu received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law
School.
Dean
Reuter – Washington, DC
Nominated April 13, 2015; term expires Sept. 14, 2016
Dean A. Reuter is the Vice President and Director
of Practice Groups of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies,
a position he has held since 2001. Previously, he served as the Counsel
to the Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service
from 1998 to 2000. Before that, Mr. Reuter was the Student Division
Director of the Federalist Society from 1997 to 1998. Earlier in his
career, Mr. Reuter served in several roles at the Legal Services
Corporation. He received a B.A. from Hood College and a J.D. from the
University of Maryland School of Law.
Shamina
Singh – New York City, N.Y.
Nominated April 13, 2015; term
expires Oct. 6, 2019
Shamina Singh is Executive Director of the
MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth, where she is responsible for the
Center’s consistent achievement of its mission to advance sustainable and
equitable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. Previously,
she served as Global Director of MasterCard’s Government Social Programs. Prior
to joining MasterCard, Ms. Singh headed Government and Public Affairs for Nike
and spent five years with Citigroup's Global Community Development Group. Over
the course of 15 years in the public sector, she held senior positions within
the Clinton Administration, the US House of Representatives, electoral
campaigns and national non-profit organizations. Ms. Singh is a Young Global
Leader with the World Economic Forum and a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen
Institute. Ms. Singh received a B.S. from Old Dominion University and an
M.P.A. from The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of
Texas at Austin.
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