John Bridgeland

John Bridgeland, practitioner senior fellow, is the founder and CEO of Civic, a bipartisan ideas company in Washington, DC. He is also vice chairman of the Service Year Alliance, to make a year of national service a common expectation and opportunity for all 18-28 year olds; co-convener of Grad Nation, to reach a 90 percent high school graduation rate by 2020; vice chairman of Malaria No More, a nonprofit working to end malaria deaths in Africa; producer of the film Sea of Hope; and co-founder of the High Seas Initiative, to bring the national park idea to the ocean.

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 the first director of the post-9/11 Freedom Corps under President George W. Bush.

Bridgeland is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law. He practiced law in the New York and Paris offices of Davis, Polk & Wardwell and served as chief of staff for Congressman Rob Portman. He has given commencement addresses at the College of William & Mary, Johns Hopkins University, Saint Anselm College, Hamline University, Averett University, and Ripon College. In addition, he was given the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, and was named Non-Profit Executive of the Year in 2009 for his work in developing the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act that was signed into law. Bridgeland serves on numerous nonprofit boards and national commissions.