Experts

John Bridgeland

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Founder and CEO of Civic
  • Vice chairman of the Service Year Alliance
  • Former director, White House Domestic Policy Council
  • Expertise on domestic policy, volunteerism, education, environment

Areas Of Expertise

  • Domestic Affairs
  • Education
  • Law and Justice
  • Social Issues
  • Leadership

John Bridgeland is founder & CEO of Civic, a social enterprise firm in Washington, DC. He is also executive chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, a civic moonshot factory to tap the entrepreneurial talent of Americans to solve public challenges together across divides. In that capacity, he is co-founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative, a national platform to combat COVID-19; co-chairman of Welcome.US, which works to inspire, educate, and engage Americans in supporting the resettlement of Afghan, Ukrainian, and other refugees; co-founder of ACT NOW, a ground-up effort to re-envision community safety and policing; and co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of More Perfect, a bipartisan initiative with all 14 presidential centers to protect and renew American democracy.

Bridgeland is the founding CEO and vice chairman of Malaria No More and senior advisor to the United Nations special envoy for malaria, which together are mobilizing the public and private sectors to end malaria deaths in Africa. He is the co-founder and vice chairman of the Service Year Alliance, an initiative to create a civilian national service counterpart to military service in the United States. He is also co-convener of the Grad Nation campaign to address the high school dropout crisis. In addition, he founded Tennis for America in 2020 with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which awarded him their lifetime achievement award.

Bridgeland led the White House Summit on American History, Civics and Service and worked with the National Archives to develop “Our Documents” to promote understanding of 100 important documents in American history. He testified before the National Academy of Sciences on his post-9/11 efforts to increase civic engagement. Bridgeland also served on the Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Political Reform, which released its bipartisan blueprint in 2014. 

Previously, Bridgeland was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions. He also served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, assistant to the president, and first director of the USA Freedom Corps after 9/11 under President George W. Bush. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law and has honorary degrees from the College of William & Mary, Averett University, Saint Anselm College, Ripon College, and Hamline University, where he delivered commencement addresses. He is the author of the book, Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America’s Civic Spirit.

 

 

Featured Publications

Heart of the Nation
Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America's Civic Spirit

John Bridgeland

Moneyball for Government
Moneyball for Government

John Bridgeland

John Bridgeland News Feed

Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper Headline
Timothy P. Shriver and John M. Bridgeland Champion Social-Emotional Learning as Key to Student Mental Health
Across our country, concern about the mental health of our children coming out of the pandemic has skyrocketed in the last year. Rates of depression and anxiety are at all-time highs. Young people are struggling to adapt to the routines of school, develop and manage relationships, and avoid the risks of drugs, alcohol, and violence.
John Bridgeland Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper
Screenshot of article headline with photo of Republican U.S. Senate nominee J.D. Vance, right, and his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, left.
A republic, if you can keep it: David L. Hobson and John M. Bridgeland
"The midterm elections, particularly for the next U.S. senator from Ohio, call the question on whether voters will support candidates who will defend our democracy and sustain our republic," writes John Bridgeland, practitioner senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center.
John Bridgeland cleveland.com
screenshot of NPR headline
White House hosts bipartisan summit to tackle hate-fueled violence
John Bridgeland, practitioner senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, said that "It's a divisive time. That's just the reality. And yet this is something the nation should be awakened to do something about."
John Bridgeland NPR
screenshot of NPR Morning Edition headline
White House hosts bipartisan summit to tackle hate-fueled violence
According to John Bridgeland, practitioner senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, "hate-fueled violence is something the nation should be awakened to do something about."
John Bridgeland NPR Morning Edition
screenshot of USA Today op-ed headline and photograph of police offer examining car
Hate-fueled violence is ripping apart our cities and nation. We need to stop it.
John Bridgeland, practitioner senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, writes that "a new movement is underway to address hate-fueled violence and affirm the bonds of mutual respect that make self-government possible."
John Bridgeland USA Today
Washington Post
How Elise Stefanik, ‘bright light’ of a generation, chose a dark path
When John Bridgeland left a senior position in George W. Bush’s White House and joined Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in the fall of 2004, an eager undergraduate got assigned to him as a student fellow and facilitator of his seminar. “She was so excited because I was one of the few Republicans” then at the school’s Institute of Politics (IOP), Bridgeland told me this week. He remembered her as “extremely bright” and “through-and-through public-service-oriented.” She was so impressive in the seminar that he chose her to do a project with him selling Harvard students on the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and other service opportunities. “I thought the world of her,” Bridgeland said. The young woman’s name was Elise Stefanik.
John Bridgeland The Washington Post