Shirley Sagawa

Shirley Sagawa is a distinguished American public servant widely recognized as an architect of AmeriCorps and a Founding Mother of the modern national service movement.

Throughout her career, she has played a central role in shaping federal service policy. President George H.W. Bush nominated her as a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Commission on National and Community Service. President Bill Clinton subsequently nominated her as the first Managing Director of the Corporation for National and Community Service, where she oversaw the agency’s programs and led the launch of AmeriCorps. Most recently she was appointed by President Joe Biden as a member of the AmeriCorps Board of Directors.

Sagawa also served in the Clinton White House as Deputy Assistant to the President, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff to the First Lady and on the Domestic Policy Council staff. On Capitol Hill, she was Chief Counsel for Youth Policy to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee where she drafted the National and Community Service Act and shepherded its passage.

Beyond government, Sagawa was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Service Year Alliance, chaired by General Stanley McChrystal (Ret.), and a member of the founding team of America Forward, where she has served as Senior Policy Advisor since its inception. She has also served as senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center and as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

A leading voice on national service and the nonprofit sector, Sagawa has written extensively on public policy and is the author of multiple books and articles.