Alan Khazei, Vice Chair
Alan is a social entrepreneur who has pioneered ways to empower citizens to make a difference. He is the Founder and CEO of Be The Change, Inc., a movement building organization which creates bipartisan national campaigns to affect public policy and culture by organizing coalitions of nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, private sector leaders, academics, and citizens, and which was the original parent organization for ServiceNation. Be The Change’s campaigns include Opportunity Nation to expand economic mobility; Got Your 6 to empower veterans and close the civilian-military divide; and Service Year Alliance. Prior to the formation of Service Year Alliance, Alan was also Co-Chair of the Franklin Project.
Alan is the Co-Founder and former CEO of City Year, an education-focused national service program that unites young adults, ages 17 to 24, from all backgrounds for an intensive year of full-time community service focused on mentoring, tutoring, and educating children.
He has served on the boards of leading national nonprofits and has received numerous awards. In 2014, Alan and his wife, Vanessa Kirsch (CEO and Founder of New Profit), were named to CNN Money/Fortune’s “World’s Greatest Leaders: 9 Dynamic Duos.” In 2006, U.S. News and World Report named Alan as one of America’s Best Leaders. Alan has been a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. He is also the author of Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism can Bring out the Best in America.